The Long Deferred Path to Reform
By Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Member of the Pakatan’s Secretariat
Amidst the myriad unending political upheavals, some obviously more bizarre than others, the nation (read rakyat) shall now be implored to hold on a little longer and walk the extra mile.
But why should they? Why should they bear anymore of the ‘political nonsense’ of the politicians? Yes politicians of both divides – the BN and the Pakatan.
Call yourselves whatever, the bottom-line is, you are politicians, all the same, whatever that word means and as perceived by the rakyat or the citizenry. So say the (silent) majority of the rakyat.
They are now clamoring for their lives to be reinstated back. Yes back to business as usual. Despondency and dismay invariably fill the air. The ‘collateral damage’ sustained have been enormous. It’s indeed too suffocating and at times rightly so, nauseating. Arguably, an overall perception of an overdose of politics has been around for a while.
Well, admittedly so. After the watershed General Election (GE) of 8 March, 2008, there was never a dull moment in Malaysia. Malaysia assumes the most exciting political spot on the entire earth, at times relegating even war-zone of Gaza and Israel into oblivion.
But why? Why has there been an intense politicisation as never before witnessed after the 12 GE? Seriously, could you please bring this nation back to our ‘usual’ pre-12 GE scenario? Many have begged for this and some claim that the number is growing by the day.
If you are ready to hear, this writer would provide his take on this RM1 billion question.
First, is the bad news. The answer is No. We can’t get back to business as usual. The path back has been erased, almost deleted forever. Really? Well, almost. But wait a moment. Don’t despair as yet.
Second, is the good news. We ‘may’ have found a new path. That path we wanted to take a long time ago, but we somehow lost it along the way for whatever reasons. The long deferred path.
Being on it again may not immediately provide us the comfort of familiarity. On the contrary, the path seems onerous. But over 2 years on it, you somehow feel that you are getting somewhere nearer to where you once liked and wanted to be.
Even more comforting is the fact that you are moving away from the stink and stench of the rut of the former path.
If you are still wondering over what this writer is philosophizing or ranting, he could try to make it simpler. The writer is attempting to provide a narration of the state of the nation half-way our political journey in the 12th parliamentary session.
Bluntly put but still resorting to metaphors, he truly believes that the nation as a whole is undergoing the pangs of a ‘delivery’. But this is no usual birth.
It is the birth, long awaited for decades. Known only to the Almighty, the arrival has unfortunately been unduly deferred. Many have stood and have fallen for its cause.
Like all deliveries, the pains are as excruciating to even fatal point. But this time it is about the worst of it. The pangs and sufferings shall be even more unbearable as it is about to deliver a ‘very special baby’.
But again as in any delivery, should the nation and the rakyat bear it all, the arrival of the long-awaited ‘baby’ would instantaneously take all the agonies away.
If the ‘delivery’ is to be likened to the next 13-GE, the special baby to be delivered could very well be likened to the ‘New Malaysia’ that we all dreamt to have. Yes, whatever the outcome in the New Politics.
Hence, the reasons the writer has been emphatically saying that the rakyat must not be over-enraged and frustrated by the inconveniences before the ‘delivery’.
The rakyat has just to withstand it for a little longer as to be welcomed to the refreshing world of a New Malaysia.
Read more at: http://drdzul.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/the-long-deferred-path-to-reform/
