Malaysian Politics: A reflection

*Disclaimer: There will be no attempt to provide a political analysis (I'm not qualified), instead it will be a personal reflection of my experiences from the very edge of the sidelines*

That weekend of 'Langkah Sheraton' I was dancing my heart out to YMCA at my cousin's wedding in the middle of the rainforest in Sabah. Within 24 hours, I went from explaining to my family why I'm no longer with my partner when I caught the bouquet to providing an unqualified analysis of the current political situation.

Being someone who is directly affected by this situation, I wanted to be able to understand current circumstances. My first reaction was 'How inconvenient, now I will have to move.' I half-believed that the situation will blow over and things will eventually go back to normal, PH (and my dad) live to fight another day.

As the days passed and the plot twists never-ending, I became more confused and frustrated. I was trying to comprehend why this all happened in the first place: Where did all this betrayal start and why? Reading the media, I felt there was a lot of impatience, bruised egos and lack of trust. Let's be frank here, every one involved made their own move on this political multi-way chessboard, calling 'checkmate' at each other, and the only victims are the pawns - the rakyat.

The media played a big part in fuelling more confusion, uncertainty and division. In hindsight, in the first few days of the 'crisis', the news articles were misguiding and misinforming its readers, intentional or otherwise. It also did not help much that most Malaysians get excited at sharing any click-bait worthy articles, WhatsApp messages without questioning its sources. For those politically literate, it is easy to detect fake news, however the majority of us are still in the dark on the real situation and therefore, we gravitate towards information that speaks to our version of what we want the narrative to be instead of what it really is.

Opinion pieces are taken as the objective truth and not questioned, statements from leaders are taken out of context, and sadly, there are certain people who have taken this opportunity to create more political division.  Mentally, it was too much for me to digest. I wished there was a Malaysian version of The Last Leg to help articulate this saga into normal people language. I felt dejected, hopeless and sad. Democracy is dead. The Bersih fight that brought millions of Malaysians around the world to bring about social change was gone to waste. The politicians we elected to execute the People's Mandate are now climbing over each other to achieve a majority. It's every MP for his/her own.

I know many of us feel this way. 'The politicians will always have their way, we can never see change.' 'What's the point of voting anymore? They don't even care about us.' And they're right to an extent. But in the past 18-months, we have seen credible MPs and Ministers who are fighting the people's fight, it was a breath of fresh air. Plastic waste got sent back to where it came from, the Covid-19 outbreak was well handled, MACC finally was able to do its job properly. What this tells us is that, there is hope.

At 2019's Merdeka Parade @ Putrajaya. When Malaysia Baru was still hopeful. 

Truth is, there has always been hope for change. However, we have been too focused on what makes us different from each other to what similarities we share. Social psychologists have argued that when people come together under a shared identity, social change can be achieved (i.e. works around Social Identity Theory). We need to stop letting race and religion divide us. In school I was taught that the beauty of Malaysia is that everyone can live in harmony and work together in the #MalaysiaBoleh spirit. So, why do I struggle to see it now, especially among our leaders?

I hope the dust settles soon and the people of Malaysia find a way to make our voices heard, again.