For me, I am optimistic that Malaysians can vote in a new government that we can all support to change our country for the better.

We could, in less than three weeks, walk the dream of something unthought of for over 60 years.

We will take 2018 as a test run and as a faith that winning the election will require more sacrifice and effort to change.

However, before strategizing the change, we must win the election first. And to win, we must have all good Malaysians that hate racism, bigotry, extremism, corruption and an uncaring governance to women, mothers and children to come out strongly and vote.

But, there seems to be some rumblings among the electorate on small issues and a feeling of ‘tiredness’ about hoping and about building a new Malaysia.

In this article, I will try to deal with some of these rumblings from my own perspective.

Firstly, I heard rumblings about incumbents being dropped.

Although these incumbents have performed well from many perspectives, their political parties have dropped them to be replaced by new faces.

There are Malaysians who feel much despair at their ‘favorite’ wakil rakyat being dropped.

My response to this is, firstly, we must trust the political parties and their leadership to deal with the war on election and what would be their best strategies.

We, on the ground may feel many things to be unfair, but we must remember that as foot soldiers in a war, we must trust our generals.

The generals or leaders of political parties have strategies that they should not divulge, as in any war. And as in any war, some sacrifices sometimes need to be made in order to flush the enemy out of their hiding and to reveal their strategies.

I have to admit that there are many things in an election war that I have neither the experience nor the knowledge. This is where we must have faith to win the war and not just look at one or two battles.

As foot soldiers, we must have faith in our choice of leaders and as kingmakers, we must present ourselves to vote, come what may.

Secondly, we do not know that perhaps the new candidates who are mostly young and eager to show performance that they are better than the old incumbents.

The incumbents, with due respect, may have the experience but they are usually too set in their ways to change.

Some of these incumbents who are seen as ‘heroes’ shouting at the top of their lungs against any social, religious or political issues in the community, may seem relevant.

A new candidate may have a softer voice but that voice could be more effective.

Do not reject the unknown just because we are used to the known. Life is not like that. We must always tread on new grounds if we are to prosper ahead and not just sit in the comfort zone of our own making.

Thirdly, if we fail to vote, then we are the cause of the 1MDB affair, the non-delivery of LCS battle ships, the UKM dress code for convocation issue, the Kongres Maruah Melayu disaster and many more.

I always say that our country, our fault! I would also say the our country, our responsibility! These two phrases of fault and responsibility are the cornerstone of our country’s dignity as a nation. If we fail in this, then we fail together as a nation and give in to those who would plunder the country until we go the directions of Sri Lanka and Greece. Bankrupt.

Fourthly, I understand that the new leadership in the person of Anthony Loke and Rafizi Ramli are doing their best to reunite their party members under a new administration that has a new approach of winning and vision for Malaysia.

They must be given the leeway to exercise full mandate in selecting candidates and place as a battle strategy to win the war.

Our role as Malaysians come November 19 is simple. We must trust our generals or leadership of our choice of party and vote according to our rationale.

Life is always about choices. Blaming others for our failure usually is a poor excuse for thinking, acting and reflecting.

We Malaysians are kingmakers of the country, but we Malaysians are also foot soldiers in another role.

As foot soldiers, we must have faith in our choice of leaders and as kingmakers, we must present ourselves to vote, come what may.

Kita Boleh!!

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)