The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 30 May 2013 04:41 PM PDT
MAY 31 — The wisdom of our age has it that young adults are more likely than not to vote against Barisan Nasional. A survey carried out by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research backs this up. In a report it published on May 3, the poll agency found out that Malaysians in their twenties and thirties preferred Pakatan Rakyat to BN by a significant margin. In contrast, support for BN was the strongest among those aged 50 or older. In a country where the median age is younger than 30 years old, that offers some hints about the political future of the country. While that is so, nothing guarantees that wisdom will last for too long. The generational divergence Malaysia is witnessing now has a lot to do with the political turmoil of the late 1990s. The sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as the deputy prime minister and the subsequent events that followed made a lasting impression on the minds of these young Malaysians who then were still in school, in university or new to the labour market. Whether it was about Anwar or about a larger sense of justice — that something was extremely wrong — they were moved by the event. These Malaysians are also the largest age cohorts that Malaysia has ever seen yet. It is not merely a coincident that BN comes under intense political pressure exactly when these generations are maturing and exercising their political muscles. Each generation has an episode which defines their political belief and partly, their worldview. Those above 50 years old now remember the old Umno and hold dearly onto those nostalgias. Future young Malaysians, those in their teenage years and even younger, will no doubt have their very own episode. Unlike the others however, these new young Malaysians have their book wide opened and its pages unwritten yet. There has not been any big wake-me-up moment for them so far. One thing is certain though. Time has the power to make society forget the past. The old old generation will disappear into the background, hopefully bringing with them the ghost of May 13, among others. The old new generation — the young adults of today — will have their political views at the new bedrock of Malaysian society. The new new generations will challenge the prevailing views, as youth always do all around the world. These new young Malaysians will not remember the events of 1998 because they will never experience it. It is much like how young adults today do not remember the events of 1988 when the old Umno was disbanded and the judiciary came under assault by the Mahathir administration. It is the exact reason why many young Malaysians today are not swayed by May 13 and scaremongering opportunists who fuel their sad career on racist politics. History books alone are insufficient to influence a whole generation so comprehensively. No matter how moving words in the archives can be, reading them in a dark library room up in the stacks or deep in the basement is a passive, cold action. Words of history may work for a minority with true appreciation of history who read heavily but for the majority, they have to be in the dizzying mist of action before the essence of the era seeps into his or her being. So the new new generation will forget. Society will forget. Slowly but surely, the what-we-call Reformasi era will take a bow, come down off the stage and be relegated to the pages of history. That may be a comfort to BN. It is a second chance for them in what seems to be a contest between BN the rock and PR the water. Nevertheless, BN will have to suffer the demographics and the momentum of time for now. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. | |
| Posted: 30 May 2013 04:30 PM PDT
MAY 31 — Last week I had lunch with my friend Liew Seng Tat, a famous award-winning Malaysian film director of Chinese descent. If you haven't heard of him, then you know zilch about films. Seng Tat is very politically active. He's not a politician, he's just one of the many young Malaysians who have a heightened sense of political awareness due to developments in the country. He was at all three Bersih demonstrations and was even beaten up and arrested during the second one (remember the famous assault on Tung Shin Hospital? He was in the car park). He attends a lot of ceramahs and talks, candlelight vigils, protests and even became a PACABA volunteer during the recent GE. And of course there are the Black 505 rallies. He even sends me all kinds of SMSes, Facebook links and e-mails about politics, the government, news of corruption and human rights abuse, etc. But when I met him for lunch a few days ago at Mahbub in Lucky Gardens, Bangsar, his mood and level of enthusiasm was a stark difference from before. "How's the editing of your new film going?" I asked. "The first round is done. Need to look at it again," Seng Tat replied. "Okay, so how was Amcorp Mall that night?" "It was good. A lot of people turned up." "How long do you thing all this is going to last?" "I don't know lah. It's getting really tiring. You know, all the enthusiasm and excitement that we had all these years have now just turned into fatigue." "Come on lah! Don't let this 'Chinese tsunami' die down! Apa lagi yang kau mahu?? Haha!" "Well, democracy is a slow and long process. And we also need to get on with life." I have to admit, I've been feeling the fatigue myself, and I can't help but wonder if the feeling that Seng Tat and I have at the moment can actually be extrapolated to reflect the whole country. I'm so bored of writing about politics that I yearn to start writing about the antics of my cute little daughter, Athena Azlee, again. Just like Seng Tat said, democracy is a process and life has to go on. But Seng Tat and I both feel like we can't lose the momentum and no matter how frustrating or tiring it gets, our patriotism and love for Malaysia should never wane. And I'm hoping that feeling we have can also be extrapolated to reflect the whole country. At the end of the day, Seng Tat is right. Democracy is a long and never-ending process and life has to go on. Democracy will always evolve, change and adapt as society evolves, changes and adapts. We are fighting for the next generation and they will fight for the next generation. And so the wheel turns. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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