As the rain and monsoon storms cover Malaysia with warnings of flood and devastation, the day of reckoning for this country draws nearer.
The storm may cause deaths, misery and hardship. But the dawn of the 20 November may be irreversible for all the people of this country.
Who will take the reins and rebuild the shattered remains of the Sheraton Move or will the dawn augur a terminal diagnosis of an incurable cancer.
How will the dawn play out in this country?
The best scenario for most Malaysians who are of many faiths, races, cultures and are hard working honest citizens, the win by Pakatan Harapan is the hope of all hopes.
With the likes of Rafizi and Anwar Ibrahim, the answer to the formula which Malay leaders can be trusted to take Malaysia to once the greatest heights in Southeast Asia is answered.
Anwar was incarcerated not once but twice and yet he still soldiers on in strength and values of integrity that is humanistically possible.
Yes he has some warts but not tumor-like or cancerous like those of ‘other’ leaders.
If the prayers of all good, honest and kind Malaysians were fulfilled, the PH will rein but it will not have an easy time.
With the bulk of Malay based parties like Umno, PAS and now Bersatu in the opposition, there is a risk of 2018 repeating itself. However, there is no Mahathir to destroy the trust of the rakyat with his own personal agenda.
Rafizi has shown with his asset declaration, the candidacy of a disabled person and a host of young and multiracial talents along with his own stamina of roadshows of talks and trucks, Malaysians can be assured of a Malay-Muslim who will work hard, have the right visions and dare to stare authority driven values in the face and make the changes that are necessary.
Malaysians must also play their roles in trusting the new administration with time, tolerance and strategic advice and not demand quick changes or loud dissent or kurang ajar headlines on the elected MPs.
We must have wisdom, patience and the will to help at all times. But to hope for a PH win is now a 60% possibility.
The Sabah and Sarawak people must learn to trust this new untested leadership that has the will to change for all Malaysians, and not pander to only one race.
The fate of Sabah and Sarawak is not only in a selfish concern of each nation but in the all for one and one for all formula. We are one family, like it or not.
How will the dawn play out in this country? The best scenario for most Malaysians who are of many faiths, races, cultures and are hard working honest citizens, the win by Pakatan Harapan is the hope of all hopes.
The dawn may yet bring a PN-BN combination that would set a different path to the country.
We have seen how PAS has humiliated non-Malays by accusing them of corruption, communism and as enemies of Islam.
The incident of an actor saying that he wishes to slaughter all non-Muslims who are kafir harbi is nothing more than a larger symptom of PAS’s extremist influence, the silence of academia and the silence also of religious institutions in arresting such toxic views.
The actor is not alone in his sick narrative and his non-apologetic apology which is even sicker to listen to.
The police have opened an investigation paper on him and he should be made an example rather than a young man playfully and stupidly stepping on a kolam piece.
The PN-BN combination is unthinkable for all Malaysians as it will relive the hellish months after the Sheraton Move by stripping the dignity of all the rakyat especially those who are non-Muslims.
PAS has shown that it is not a leader for non-Muslims and for Muslims with a progressive and moderate views of Islam.
Any party that has PAS in its combination will spell the end of our Constitution, Rukunegara and whatever else we hold dear in the sense of dignity for our children and theirs.
The dawn may also peek at a new and possible combination, a PH-BN tie-up.
Can Malaysians accept this combination? For the sake of Malaysia, I would and will explain why.
Firstly, BN is a serious party that has a history and track record of governance ever since most of us came into this world.
BN has the track record of keeping the peace in the country minus one horrible racial event that as yet has no clear closure.
Yes, the BN leaders after Mahathir came to power and squandered billions upon billions. For me, I would always say that those who are Muslims have sold their Akhirat or Hereafter for the billions which was meant for the benefit of many poor people.
In Islam, you cannot absolve your sins of robbing money from the people by a few trips to Mecca, building mosques or sending people for Hajj.
No, you have to pay back all the money. Jail time is only a punishment in this world but it is not recognized in the Court of Allah in Islam.
Thus, BN only robs money and it is a simple matter of paying the people back. But calling people as musuh-musuh Islam, calling people as prone to corruption without any shred of decency and wanting to sembelih rakyat who are kafir harbi in a modern nation construct, there is no absolving from these crimes of humanity.
The party that supports this kind of toxic narrative of Islam and the party that stays silent to allow this toxic form of religion are not worth even the price of the plastic IC they hold.
These people are not only unfit to be Malaysians, they are even unfit for humanity.
These people should be deposited on Antarctica or any island where there are by themselves and face the wrath of nature every single day of their lives.
Regardless of what the dawn may hearken, we Malaysians must be ready to support a new government or a combination of the new and the old with our sense of dignity for all, with our patience for change and with our wisdom to help.
Change requires all of us, and not just a change in MPs.
We are the change…come what may.
(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)
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