Over the years, the people of Malaysia has slowly begun to find their voice. They are now more willing to speak up when they are dissatisfied with something. They used to have the mentality that someone else will deal with it. The rally was the 4th installment of rallies that have been held over the years. The ruling government has been in power ever since Malaysia's independence and there no longer exists the proper check and balances to ensure a democracy. There is no longer the crucial separation of powers between the Legislative, Executive and Judicial arm. The government no longer holds themselve accountable to the people who elected them.
There are still those who says "What is the poing of rallying? It's not going to change anything." That is the mentality that frustrates the hell out of me. If everyone adopts that attitude that change will never happen. Change takes time. I am not under any illusion or that naive to believe that change will happen overnight, but we have to start somewhere right?
If you do not know what the Bersih rally is about, go Google it up. It is too long to get into here and will probably bore you to death. But the gist of it is to ask for clean elections (where a government is there by winning the popular vote, not by gerrymandering). justice and freedom of speech.
But the rallies also reminded us about the true spirit of Malaysians. The theme for this year's Merdeka (independence) celebration was "Sehati, Sejiwa" which means "One Heart, One Soul", which is ironic seeing as the government has been doing it's best to creat discord amongst the races (mainly between the Malays and the Chinese). At the rally people from all walks of life and from all races marched on together. Whatever differences they had, they put aside. For those 2 days they only had one aim, one goal, one vision. On that day, there were Malaysians (not Malays, not Chinese, not Indians, but Malaysians). They stood tall, they stood proud and most importantly they stood united.
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