Finding Courage

How many of you will stand up and be counted as being against the Barisan Nasional government? Are you going to be silent and let your votes do the talking for you instead? Who amongst you will disrupt your settled and comfortable way of life to be an activist to fight against the corruption, the greed and the arrogance of UMNO and Barisan Nasional politicians?

I asked this because we know too well what harm this BN government does to those that do not agree with what they are doing to our country and to their own people. The ISA is a very effective weapon used against individuals the government consider a “treat to national security”. I personally would not have the resolve to face being separated from my love ones for any amount of time – what more years. I would not have the resolve to face being abuse physically and mentally by PDRM in their process to break me down. Many of us would rather not have the opportunity of being a “guest” of our government under the ISA franchise!

So who amongst us will stand up to be counted? Not many! To many of you the act of logging into the various blogs two or three times a week to acquaint yourself with the latest “news” about Barisan Nasional and their leaders is the extent of your activism in our journey towards this crucial 13^th general election!

To some of you the time spent talking with friends over teh tarik by the mamak stalls will give you a high all through the evening until it is time to go home, shower and sleep over the exhaustive sembang session you just had……and all that you talked about would play around your head until you fall asleep. Then another day is upon you and another day of work starts ….and Malaysia will be none the better for the sembang session you had with your friends the previous evening.

But that is life. If I immerse myself into the chatter going around the blogs I too can easily get carried away with the heat of the moment – whether it be the ETP, PKR’s party election or any political controversy of the day. By nothing comes out of it. Nothing but a moment of contempt and disgust for Barisan Nasional and the abuse they wreck upon this beloved country of ours. That moment would certainly reinforced our beliefs that it is time for change. It would remind you again that Pakatan Rakyat could provide a viable alternative to Barisan Nasional. And after a few minutes of bringing yourself to speed with what is on the Internet…you power off and go back to whatever it was you were doing or want to do! Watching TV, having dinner or spending time with your family and friends to while the evening away until it is time for bed.

While all this would personally do you good and fulfil the belief in yourself that you have done your bit towards bringing change to our country…the reality is that you have done nothing! Zilch! Zero….KOSONG! Too many of you I want to tell you that you are doing nothing to change the BN government! If you continue to do this then the 13^th general election will also do the same thing to yourself and to our country ….NOTHING!

And most of you are content with doing nothing! You cannot be bothered to do more….why should you? If you look at what is around you in your immediate space, your immediate life and the immediate world you already are settled you will want nothing to change. Change brings too much hassle and unsettles you and the world you live in.

Why should you care about the ISA? About Altantuya? About Khoo Beng Hock, Aminurasyid and Kugan? If you ignore these unpleasantnesses it will eventually go away because you no longer hear about them on TV or Media? It is only the blogs that continues to tell you about these unpleasantness….and you can always click these stories away with you little finger!

And you will click those realities away until another death in custody sparks your interest again! Until another PDRM shootout that killed five suspect criminal elements armed only with parangs. Until another financial scandal with losses running into the billions! But these occurrences are minor irritations that you either choose to ignore or can ignore because they have no direct bearing on your life!

When you do this you kill our country a little. You allow yourself to be lulled into a sense of detachment from the things that is happening around you. You excuse the corruption in government ministries because Barisan Nasional politicians are corrupt too! The moment you do so then it is no longer a question of if our politicians are corrupt or not…but a question of how corrupt there are. A question of not whether PDRM will do their duty to protect us but rather a question of how far PDRM will go to impose the vested interest of their Barisan Nasional political master upon us….and they will go far!

What I am trying to put across here is the inability of most Malaysian to walk the talk and the “tidak apa” attitude. Because it is easier to sit and do nothing then to put yourself in harms way via the long arm of the Barisan Nasional and their punitive actions against you when they found out that you are not with them body, heart and soul.

How will all this end? The same way the other 12 general elections have ended – with Barisan Nasional still in power. So please go find the courage to make yourself do what you know you have to do to bring change to our country. Stand up to be counted!