I am glad I am not a 16 year old growing up in Malaysia today .....

We have seen our future destroyed and we will fight to ensure that we leave
a better future than the one we had for our children!

I am glad I am not a 16 year old growing up in Malaysia today because the current state of our nation does not augers well for the Malaysia that they are growing up into. Somehow I sense that the Malaysia of the future will not be as good as the one I grew up in! 

I have lived through the best of times that Malaysia could offer.

Our people learned from each other and we had respect for each other. There was no need for me to apologize for being a Malay nor do the others felt marginalized for not being a Malay. We were all respectful of our elders and decency was a byword of the way we lived our life.

No government policy dehumanized another fellow Malaysian. Our racial indulgences were tolerated and celebrated.

Today we are burdened by moral decay and moral debts unnecessarily imposed upon us by those who should know better…and this problem is profound. It has seeped into our consciousness and become the blood and soul of too many of our people for us to ignore and yet it is beyond our abilities to redress.

And yet despite my misgivings about the future for the 16 years old of today I know it is the young Malaysians of today who will make things right in Malaysia.

They will grow up knowing and experiencing the pain and shame of politics that plays on the sentiments of race and religion.

They have seen the embarrassment of riches displayed by corrupt and self-serving politicians even as these same politicians solemnly swear an oath to serve King and Country.

And they have seen their future destroyed because of these excesses and they will be embolden to work towards leaving for their children a better future than the one they found themselves in. 

That has to be our hope. 

For now we must empower our young to do the right thing.

Every one of us makes a difference to the way things are and the way things will be. It is our choice what that difference will be.  

What we all know is that there is now a discontinuity between the populace and our government….make no mistake…it is OUR government, OUR leaders that are now in Putrajaya. And it is OUR responsibility to tell them what we want of them. 

And yet while we want good governance, they do not!

We demand accountability and transparency in their conduct of government, they do not.

Where we see dragging our people out of poverty as progress, this BN government sees profit (for their own personal self!) as the moral arbitrator of what they do in government!

Why can’t we be more divisive and openly debate amongst ourselves our positives and negatives and in so doing become more understanding and respecting of one another?  Become stronger as Malaysians? Some truths are confronting but necessary. 

Instead our government divide and rule us for their political advantage!

Where is the humanity in all this? 

Our web of life is unraveling at a pace dictated by politicians who cannot see beyond their vested interest. Their greed has overtaken their intellect and all that this would lead to is the destruction and deconstruction of life as we have know it since Merdeka….and I for one will not keep quiet. This is why I write.

Our people must again be embolden by their own self worth to change what they cannot accept….a self worth that has been pummeled, pulverized and diminished not by UMNO, MCA, MIC or by any other political entities – but by the people within these political entities!

Their names roll of our tongues with ease…Mahathir, Samy Velu, Ling Liong Sik, Chuah Soi Lek, Taib Mahmud, Anwar Ibrahim (yes Anwar when he was within UMNO!) Daim, Khir Toyo…and the list goes on and on and on…Judges, IGP’s, KSU’s,Generals, Tuns, Tan Sri’s and so many many Dato’s…the list is endless.

But every journey starts with the first step one takes.

Our telling first step was made many years back at the 12^th general election when BN lost its two thirds majority in parliament. Now I hope fervently that that 16 year old whose future I worry about,  will confound my expectations and take our country back from the politicians and demand in its place decency and accountability from those who aspire to be their leaders.

And then when we say “Malaysia Boleh” it will be not with the connotation that it now has – that of being a joke because too many things that we have attempted to do have failed – but it will be said with pride and a sense of belonging because what Malaysia wants, can and will achieve will be through our own joint efforts because "Kita Boleh!"