I am not a student of History neither do I dabble in politics. Never have I held high public office or been an activist of any note, of any NGO or of any causes that could embellished my woefully inadequate CV even if it meant my life depended on it. What I do is to observe what is happening around me and then usually in the quiet hours past midnight or just before dawn breaks, I try to put into words my thoughts on what I see, how I see it and what I make of it.
This is what most of us do. We observe, we think and then when we are amongst friends and peers we discuss, deliberate, debate and try to make some sense of all these things that we know is part of life - our life. Some of you surf the net, peruse blogs and FB pages and try to find others who have been able to put into words what is in your head. When you find someone that does do that you are comforted that there are others who think as you do and your thoughts now have substance, have form, have life.
Many many Malaysian are doing this now.
This morning I was awake at 5 and started "work" on my blog.
I was fired up from last night about the arrest of Nurrul. Nurrul is an adult and she can take care of herself but thinking of how her children would be affected by her detention broke my heart - and those images of her saying goodbye to them did not help!
And then I came across this comment from Stephen Tan on Antares FB:
"They move, oh they move, ever so close to the precipice.
They push oh they push, ever so close to the tipping point".
And it moved me enough to post that comment on my blog and as a courtesy to Antares and Stephen I left a link on Antares's FB to inform them of what I did. A few minutes later Stephen Tan got in touch with me and this is our "conversation":
Hussein, how shall I call you? Abang or Adik. Born on Jan 20, 1950, I am 65 years 2 months.
Brother I am 67...Najib calls me Sir but friends call me ssein...its 6 am over here in Melbourne. What are you doing still awake at this time of the morning? ...and God help our country!
Yes, quite bad. I can sense that they are pushing the envelop to see how far they can go.
The last AGM of the Bar was really a great show. Never so many lawyers attending.And the resolution of on the Sedition Act is something.
It's always an uphill battle,Abang.
If you have read what I wrote, I was reminding them of the Salt March when the Brits went over the tipping point.
After the rally, I thought they would just let things be and use the time they have to rectify matters.
But no, they are tightening the screws.Inviting a reaction.
I do not know Anwar. I do not know his daughter. But I do know that the daughter has a following.
The sad part is this...the arrogance of political power makes them blind to what is happening around them. I saw this at close range when I was back in KL during Abang Lah's time...Pak Lah was blind to all that was being done by his own family until it was too late...
Yup, Abang, we are all human. I also have my faults.BUT what I do know for sure, and I have written about it, is that Anwar saved a friend from being jailed during Operation Lalang.
I was at the LAwyers Walk for Justice during Pak Lah's time. The guns were trained at us. So were the tear gas.
This was 2007. After that I told my friend, Datuk Richard Ho. He told me that something must be wrong for me to bus down to KL and walk in Putrajaya.
I never did such a thing before.
And I was by then 57!
If I did not believe that in the end the people will prevail I will not be spending time working on trying to rid ourselves of these damm govt.
Let us keep in touch. I must go and have a shower now to really wake me up and write some more...
Go, Abang, go.- Please don;t let me stop you.
Maaf.... but I do not know who Stephen Tan is. This is the first time we have "talked" but you can see from the flow of our conversation what made it easy for both of us to connect : Our mutual disgust in the manner this Umno led BN government is conducting itself!
Another thing that I noted was that Stephen in 2007 at the age of 57 went to "Putrajaya to take part in the Lawyers Walk for Justice during Pak Lah's time. The guns were trained at us. So were the tear gas".
Stephen Tan is now 65 ...and at 6 am this morning he is still talking about the injustice pepetrated by this BN government upon its own people - this time with me!
I want all my friends to know this. I want BN people to know this. I want Umno people to know this - that everywhere in every way, at all times of the day and night, people are not allowing each other to forget what is going on in this nation of ours.
I do not know what others are doing but from 5,30 am this morning until now - I have been "working" on the same thing! How to rid our nation of these insidious, corrupt and arrogant BN politicians - and so I write.
My own effort may not count for much but there is also Stephen Tan, Antares, Balwant Singh, Tan Eng Swee, Samugan Kandasamy, Katie Loke, Jennifer Cross, Zulqurnain Othman, SuperSnake Cobra, Ambok Chening Meri, Hon Chong Nyok, Panca Sila, Beh KL, Snow Summer, Duke Cheng, Tan Soo Beng, Ranendra Bhattacharyya, Jaafar Ismail, Robert Lai, Denzel Koh, Azman Shaari...just to name a few....all of them from to time have told me that they too are disgusted with the state our nation is in today!
I am one but with all of you we are many!
So please brothers and sisters...do not falter, do not allow each other to forget that we are many...they are few. If two oldies - Stephen Tan who is 65 and me at 67 - can "talk" about this at 6 this morning then what will you do?
"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop” Confucius
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in
nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to
convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield
to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Churchill
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to
falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the
secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are
many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a
view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the
distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom
come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not
ended.”
Mandela
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