A Leap Year, A Leap of Faith? Print
Wednesday, 04 January 2012 01:01

leap2By Jayanath Appudurai


One can almost sense an uneasy, surreal calm that pervades the nation.

After the tumultuous year that was, a quiet anticipation of change is in the air.

Many, many questions keep swirling in our heads…..!

 

Will we finally participate in a truly free and fair election?

Will one ‘Coalition’ be a better ‘Trustee’ than the ‘Known Other’?

Will they in ‘whom we trust’ provide us with good governance?

Will the draconian laws that shackle our freedom be repealed?

Or will they be replaced by equally inane laws that curb our civil liberties?

Will we be able to ride out the global economic downturn that is sure to come?

Will the poor and the marginalized Anak Bangsa Malaysia be protected?

Or will they further descend into the underclass morass?

Will corruption be reigned in and leakages plugged?

Will we see the end to deaths in custody?

Will our institutions begin to truly serve the Rakyat?

Or will they continue to serve the rich and powerful?

 

Far too many imponderables!

Change is in the air, but yet our People still resist!

We find comfort in our innocuous little cocoons!

Politicians and people alike, effuse an unwillingness to face reality.

We regress…

 

In wanton desperation we cling on to age-old shibboleths.

In ‘race’ and religion we continue to parade…the markers of our individual and communal identities.

In ‘R&R’ we see the protectors of our manifest destiny!

Whither then the clarion call for “One People, One Nation”?

Will we see the change we want?

Will we be the change we want?

Not just for ourselves as individual citizens, but for the collective we call Bangsa Malaysia.

 

In this leap year, surely we need a ‘leap of faith’…

The lyrics of “Long Time Gone…” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young…

Keep flashing in our mind’s eye, back and forth.

 

It's been a long time comin'

It's goin' to be a long time gone.

But you know,

The darkest hour is always,

Always just before the dawn.

 

[Dedicated to all Anak Bangsa Malaysia who have stayed the course and continue to believe in the cause]

2 January 2012

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Dean Johns  - Powerfully and beautifully said, Jaya!!! Cheers, D |2012-01-04 12:08:12
:cheer:

:cheer:

alex abraham |2012-01-05 09:52:25
:cheer:

:cheer:

Good ands reflective Jayanath. enjoyed reading it