Yellow Snowball

The only reason that I decided to come home to Malaysia is this – to fight for our future.

If there was one thing that my experiences at Bersih have taught me – it’s that there’s hope for Malaysia yet – one where people treat each other like people, where rights are respected and not trampled over, where one is able to make an honest living.

Our parents generation have failed us and as a result, our generation is saddled with all the mistakes of the past and it’s up to us to tackle the problems one by one. While some take the easy way out, to run away, or to hide elsewhere biding their time, I would have none of that.

Bersih 3.0 marks a turning point in our country’s future. No amount of violence and accusations will distract from this. Our people have changed and the country has been changed forever by this. No way will we be going back to the ways of the past.

All parties of our government need to take cognisance of this. Regardless of who comes to power in the next general elections, the landscape and people have changed forever. Whomever comes to power will have to realise that the rakyat no longer blindly trust the government.

This event also marks the rise of the middle-class, traditionally the drivers of all political change. Thanks to various education and economic opportunities provided in the past, we have a burgeoning middle-class who are educated enough to see through the many lies told by all sides and figure things out for ourselves.

A lot needs to be done to regain that trust and all parties must realise that, particularly our police force, who have become a force of authority to a farce of one. Same goes for the main-stream media whose censorship, distortion and lies only serve to stoke further anger and provoke incredulity.

I don’t know what the future holds but I’m sure of one thing – nothing is going to be the same after this.

The snowballing has begun.