by Zan Azlee
The Malaysian Insider
May 31, 2013
MAY 31 — Last week I had lunch with my friend Liew Seng Tat, a famous award-winning Malaysian film director of Chinese descent. If you haven’t heard of him, then you know zilch about films.
Seng Tat is very politically active. He’s not a politician, he’s just one of the many young Malaysians who have a heightened sense of political awareness due to developments in the country.
He was at all three Bersih demonstrations and was even beaten up and arrested during the second one (remember the famous assault on Tung Shin Hospital? He was in the car park).
He attends a lot of ceramahs and talks, candlelight vigils, protests and even became a PACABA volunteer during the recent GE. And of course there are the Black 505 rallies.
He even sends me all kinds of SMSes, Facebook links and e-mails about politics, the government, news of corruption and human rights abuse, etc.
But when I met him for lunch a few days ago at Mahbub in Lucky Gardens, Bangsar, his mood and level of enthusiasm was a stark difference from before.
“How’s the editing of your new film going?” I asked.
“The first round is done. Need to look at it again,” Seng Tat replied.
“Okay, so how was Amcorp Mall that night?”
“It was good. A lot of people turned up.”
“How long do you thing all this is going to last?”
“I don’t know lah. It’s getting really tiring. You know, all the enthusiasm and excitement that we had all these years have now just turned into fatigue.”
“Come on lah! Don’t let this ‘Chinese tsunami’ die down! Apa lagi yang kau mahu?? Haha!”
“Well, democracy is a slow and long process. And we also need to get on with life.”
I have to admit, I’ve been feeling the fatigue myself, and I can’t help but wonder if the feeling that Seng Tat and I have at the moment can actually be extrapolated to reflect the whole country.
I’m so bored of writing about politics that I yearn to start writing about the antics of my cute little daughter, Athena Azlee, again. Just like Seng Tat said, democracy is a process and life has to go on.
But Seng Tat and I both feel like we can’t lose the momentum and no matter how frustrating or tiring it gets, our patriotism and love for Malaysia should never wane.
And I’m hoping that feeling we have can also be extrapolated to reflect the whole country. At the end of the day, Seng Tat is right. Democracy is a long and never-ending process and life has to go on.
Democracy will always evolve, change and adapt as society evolves, changes and adapts. We are fighting for the next generation and they will fight for the next generation. And so the wheel turns.