Tiara: OMG YOU’RE ELI
Tiara: minus the study in australia bit
(10:52:13 AM) Tiara: social justice person, blogger, has a malay boyfriend.
Had.
But that’s irrelevant.
In terms of background, I suppose I am like Elizabeth Wong. My friends will tell you; when it comes to information about what’s happening in politics, I used to keep up with the news. In secondary school and my early years of college, I was called the CNN achorperson by my priest with good reason.
When my college years were coming to a close, I even contemplated going into politics to change what I saw around me. So what stopped me?
I discovered that there were different ways to get involved. That there were other avenues to serve society and ourselves without going into the dirty, dirty world of politics. Tiara’s Blog Carnival about Youth Endeavours was what prompted this revelation.
There are many things us youths can do to change society. It’s a fallacy to say that if we don’t get involved in politics, nothing will change in society. BOLLOCKS.
PURE, UTTER BOLLOCKS.
Yes, getting into politics helps, but that’s not all you can do. Elizabeth Wong is an example of that. Scroll down the article until you come to the part about Devil Worshippers bit.
She wasn’t in politics then, but it didn’t stop her from doing what she could to affect changes. Here, have another one. Peter Tan speaking against AirAsia and affecting changes for disabled persons in Malaysia.
Elizabeth Wong didn’t HAVE to go into politics. But she did all the same. And in her short time, she’s done a lot (judging from what everyone else is saying). And you know what?
The way the mainstream media has been playing, they’re saying, IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. If you threaten the ruling coalition, you are going to be taken down, and it’s not you who faces the brunt, oh no.
It’s your family. The people closest to you. To see your family suffering, now that’s the biggest cut of all.
I suspect that that’s how they hit Hee Yit Foong, the DAP girl who left the party. In Malaysian society, a girl’s most important support is her family. There are very few Malaysian women who would dare to be as outstanding as they are if it were not for the support of their family.
This was one of the reasons why I did not go into politics. The thought did cross my mind. It was a very tantalising possibility, and it appealed to my love of debates.
Even if I can’t stand my family, this torture is not something I will visit on them. Politics is a dirty game, and in Malaysia, it can be very deadly. More than that, it cripples you.
I’ll change the world on my own terms.
I said much of the above to Mark yesterday. I was ranting about how there’s only so much I can do with EdDev, that things need to be DONE in real life to actually make a difference, but the gov’s being all messy lately so who knows. (The rant was a lot longer, lol.)
Mark said “OK, so first step: post all that on EdDev.”
NO.
As much as I’d like to, I’m pretty sure that my rant would lead to trouble for me and my family. Our citizenship application would be in disarray, Dad could lose his job, our family could be under attack for being “Bangla” (and whatever excuse they have), I could be blocked from entering the country, we could be kicked out. My parents call me begging me not to mention anything political online. I won’t be surprised if people have already warned them.
This sucks. On the one hand, the only way to get ANYTHING going over there is to take control and run it yourself. But doing that would get you into so much crap – look at Eli. Teresa Kok. All the ISA folk. And for what?
sigh.
Over in Cambodia the strategy is often to single out leaders of any sort of opposition and co-opt them, or slime them. One way to help? As a constituent, even as a non-resident, show your support. Chime in as a voice of moderation, state that you don’t believe the hype.
– Over in Cambodia, we’re doing petitions for people at risk. It’s not a huge effect, but it shows the world is watching.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stoptheintimidation
– I’m impressed by India’s coalition of ‘Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women’ http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com An attempt to shame pub-goers regarding ‘morality’ has led to an immense backlash amongst middle class women.
Just my 2 cents… I’m certainly not a student of Malaysian politics, quite a lot of complexities there.
We do not have to become politicians to correct the inequalities in society but being friends with a few does not hurt. I like the way you put it: I’ll change the world on my own terms. By being aware of issues and speaking up, you are already playing your part in changing society for the better.