BN is a multiracial coalition. No doubt about that. It had been in the past, it is still so currently. But what went wrong during the 08 March election?
The fact shows, through the voters’ voice, that PKR is gaining ground. It’s naive to say this, but all things being equal, that shows that the rakyat is losing faith in BN. What has BN done wrong?
The rakyat looks at fact and figures too. For 51 years, BN has ruled Malaysia. There were national progress, there were changes for the better. But the rakyat look at themselves, and thought, how come our lives have never changed for the better? How come we are working harder only to stay the same, to stay where we are? Somethings are better, but there’s always trade-offs. The nett improvement is nil. Something is simply not right here.
Two issues here.
Economic. Fact and figures are released every year, reflecting on how Malaysia is progressing. But the rakyat does not see such progress reflected on to their everyday life. The ordinary Joes are questioning, the farmers are questioning, the office workers are questioning, the stay-home mums are questioning. The newly graduated are questioning. If there is progress, there should be increase in money, or increase in good job opportunities, or decrease in expenses. But everything is ‘terbalik’. Something is wrong. Everything is going down the drain. Malaysia’s economy is not being handled properly. And chances have been given over and over again for 51 years. So on 08 March, no more.
Social. BN wanted a united Malaysian race. The rakyat asked how. BN had no answer, and we all went back to our everyday lives. We went back to doing open house during Hari Raya and invited all friends. We went back to playing badminton with Muthu, Samad and Ah Cheong after a hard day’s work. We continued to hear the morning prayers in the neighbourhood, we continued to smell the joss sticks from our neighbour. We continued to share stories at mamak coffeeshop. We shared kuih. We gave ang pao to all kids. We all go to buka puasa meal together at hotels. We continued on living the way we are. But yet, BN occasionally injected news or actions that threaten our everyday lives. All the ceramah during election are peppered with racial slurs. BN bulldozed temples and simply apologized later. BN pumped money to create a superior race and denied others. The rakyat no longer wants to see that. BN is multiracial, and the rakyat hopes to see themselves represented. Instead, BN is not a coalition of equal ground. That’s not right, thought the rakyat. Again and again, BN gave promises, and again and again, BN broke them or went against their promises. Rakyat is baffled, why can’t we just accept that we are all different? There is unity in disintegration, and rakyat has shown that. We learn about each other’s religion. We learn about each other’s culture. We all want to understand, so help us understand, help us learn. But nope, BN decided to keep us apart. Education is stale in improving social understanding. Religious leaders kept referring the rakyat as ‘us’ and ‘them’. The idea of a Malaysian race, remains as propaganda that was used time and again to give us a fake unattainable false hope.
Rakyat wants to acknowledge that, we are all of different roots and we want to be proud of that. That makes Malaysia unique and we love that. We love the different food. We love the different celebration and holidays. We love the sight and sound of Malaysia landscape, where a mosque sits next to an Indian temple, where signboard of different languages are all over. But we don’t want just because we are of different backgrounds, we are given different opportunities. We all want to practise our own religious rights, no one wants to be called a squatter as that is irrelevant now, we all want to have equal economical opportunities, we want to see our sweat and blood returning as honey and bread, and not just plain rice all the time. But all that has yet to be seen. It has been 51 years and the rakyat has yet to see that. Something is wrong. The govt has got it wrong. The BN had got it all wrong.
All wrong…
