[Versi Bahasa Melayu selepas versi Bahasa Inggeris]
My fellow Malaysian,
Welcome. That you’re reading this post speaks of your deep concern for this country. For this, I am glad. Right now, Malaysia is in desperate need of people who care.
For the past few years, especially these past few months, any person of modest intelligence would have noticed that something is increasingly wrong with this country. Even people who never had much interest in politics, content to chance upon current issues through the papers and TV, could feel the grip of this unseen current, pulling them deeper and deeper into danger, threatening to sink everything they have struggled for.
Rising prices, rising crime, rising fears. Has nothing decreased? Of course. Our national pride, our sense of security, our self-esteem, to name but a few. There used to be a time when being Malaysian meant something. Now, we are poster children of a nation sliding backwards into the muddied waters of Third World Countryship. All thanks to a leader who seems determined to enrich his family and cronies, even if it means sundering this country of ours.
It’s time we did something about this.
Many people have called upon Tun Dr. Mahathir, our much beloved former Prime Minister, to come back into politics. To fight AAB. To do something. I too, agree that we need Tun.
But, my fellow Malaysian, is it right for us to ask him to jump into the fray? Knowing Tun, he would be more than glad to. But think about it for a moment. We are the ones who will inherit Malaysia. Isn’t it time we learned to do something on our own? Many of us, especially those frequenting Tun’s blog at www.chedet.com, were raised under his leadership. We have witnessed that anything is possible, if we put our minds to it. Tun had proven it again and again. My friend, it is now our turn. We must be the ones to lead the charge.
What about Tun? I believe we need his experience, wisdom, and eloquence more than we his physical presence. If we stray from the path, I believe, God willing, he would point to us the right direction. But while he can point to us the right way, we are the ones who need to do the walking. This is our country. Our home. Our pride. Our love. Our inheritance.
Let us young ones walk, and may Allah and Tun guide us.
So, what do we do? My friend, your choice is yours to make. For me, I have decided on a certain sequence of steps. I have already begun the first one.
My first step is the sharing of knowledge. For those of us with Internet access, we are blessed with the ability to learn the thoughts of nationalists like Tun Dr. Mahathir, A. Kadir Jasin, and many others. However, what about those who do not even know how to switch on a computer? How about those who care, but don’t know where to begin?
There are many, many such people. My father is one of them. He has for so long depended on Utusan Malaysia for news, but that newspaper being what it is, my father now buys it mostly for something to wrap his nangka with.
So I printed the blogs of Tun and A Kadir Jasin and mailed it to him, snail-mail style. His eyesight being not as good as it was, it’s taking him quite a while to go through them. But every time I phone him, he is filled with energy as he talks about how this country is being manipulated by you-know-who. He’s asked me to keep sending the articles regularly, and I will. He gets a lot of visitors at home, and I smile as I imagine the lectures he’s giving them.
I plan on sending similar to my Pak Usu and a few friends. I’m sure you can do the same. You know who you can trust. Get them involved. Some people, like my dad, come ready to go. With others you need to appeal to their worldview. “You want to learn about politics?” will get you nowhere, but try “you’re wondering why everything costs so much? Kadir Jasin wrote something on that, let me send you a copy, it’s very short,” and “you’re worried for the country? You, me, and Tun. He wrote something on that last week. I’ll send it to you, it’s a fun read.” See the pattern? You have ideas of your own, of course. Go ahead, spread the word, especially to folk in the BN states, including Sabah and Sarawak. Teach anyone you can to read blogs. I am confident our bloggers will ensure their content is fresh and plentiful.
Why do we need to do this? Because, right now, hard as it is to swallow, the online movement of bloggers and their readers are still are minority in this country. We need to become the majority. Or at least, we need the majority of people to understand the true issues at the heart of this country’s problems. Remember, a poorly-understood minority group is full of “radical extremists”, while one enjoying the support of the majority of the population is peopled by “freedom fighters.”
By the way, I feel I must say this now. I am not a supporter of the Opposition. Personally I do not believe AI will make a good PM, since he seems to be too happy playing political games right now, rather than speaking up for the people. Maybe the mainstream media just isn’t carrying his message, but the words I hear are about how people are going to leap, as if they were frogs.
I believe the Opposition won not because people have come to love PKR, PAS, DAP. They just hated AAB so much more. A guy in prison won in the elections, for God’s sake. How did he campaign? So my words here are because I love my country, as I believe you do too.
Back on track. As I’ve mentioned, you are free to do what you choose. I made this my choice because it is the easiest to begin with, since I have never done any politicking before, nor have I ever been active in anything. And, my educated guess is that this is the easiest course of action that will yield the most impact in the medium and long term. Short term? I don’t believe that is a good strategy in politics. But, I might be wrong. I hope Tun or Datuk Kadir will have something to share with us on that.
My friend, regardless of what you choose to do, I ask you for one thing. Do not endanger our integrity, especially that of Tun and other bloggers. Their words, as well as ours, are the roses we use to attract people to our side. So do not exaggerate, mislead, or lie. Our strength is in truth. Lies are for the other side, and they’re forever looking over their shoulders, fearing old lies might come back to stab them.
Once upon a time, our parents came together to trounce a threat, and they succeeded. Now, it’s our turn. We might not know how to do it, but do you think that they knew? If we try, we will have chance of success, no matter how small. If we do nothing, then our loss is guaranteed.
Will you join me?
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Versi Bahasa Malaysia
Waktu Bertindak
Teman se-Malaysiaku,
Selamat datang. Bacanya teman akan posting ini tanda prihatin teman kepada nasib negara ini. Saya bersyukur, kerana pada masa ini Malaysia amat memerlukan orang-orang yang prihatin.
Dalam beberapa tahun ini, terutamanya bulan-bulan yang lepas, mana-mana insan yang berakal dapat merasakan ada sesuatu yang semakin tidak kena dengan negara kita. Insan-insan yang tidak peka politik, yang cukup bagi mereka sekadar terbaca perkembangan terbaru di dada akhbar dan TV, pun semakin terasa cengkaman suatu arus yang semakin lama semakin menenggelamkan kita dan segala yang kita usahakan selama ini.
Harga barang naik, kadar jenayah naik, ketakutan kita menjadi-jadi. Ada tak yang turun? Sudah tentu. Maruah negara kita, rasa keselamatan kita, harga diri kita, dan banyak lagi. Pada suatu masa dulu, sebagai rakyat Malaysia kita dikatakan berprinsip. Tetapi sekarang, kita simbol satu negara yang menyonsang arus, yang sedang kembali ke lopak-lopak Negara Dunia Ketiga. Semuanya kerana seorang pemimpin yang nampaknya bertekad untuk mengayakan keluarga dan kuncu-kuncunya, walaupun dalam berbuat demikian akan hancurlah negara kita ini.
Tiba masanya kita bertindak.
Ramai orang memohon supaya Tun Dr. Mahathir, bekas Perdana Menteri yang kita sanjung, supaya pulang ke gelanggang politik. Supaya melawan AAB. Asalkan ada buat sesuatu. Saya bersetuju yang kita perlukan Tun.
Tetapi, teman, wajarkah kita meminta Tun bergelumang dalam selut politik lagi? Kemungkinan besar Tun sendiri sanggup. Tapi apa kata kita fikirkan dulu. Kita yang akan mewarisi Malaysia. Bukankah ini masanya untuk kita mengorak langkah sendiri? Ramai antara kita, terutama pembaca-pembaca blog Tun di www.chedet.com, dibesarkan di bawah kepimpinan Tun. Kita naik saksi tiada apa yang mustahil jika kita bertekad. Ini Tun telah buktikan berkali-kali. Teman, telah tiba masa kita. Kita sepatutnya yang mendahului gerakan ini.
Bagaimana pula dengan Tun? Saya percaya kita lebih perlukan pengalaman, kearifan, dan kepetahannya lebih daripada tulangnya yang empat kerat. Jika kita terpesong hala, saya percaya, Tun akan tunjukkan hala yang benar, Insya Allah. Tetapi, Tun hanya boleh menunjukkan hala. Langkah yang disusun mesti kita yang punya. Sebab ini tanah air kita. Maruah kita. Warisan kita.
Biarlah kita yang muda ini yang berjuang, moga-moga Allah dan Tun memberi petunjuk kepada kita.
Jadi, apa yang harus kita buat? Wahai teman, itu pilihan diri teman. Bagi saya, saya telah memutuskan mengambil satu susunan langkah. Langkah pertama telah saya mulakan.
Langkah pertama saya ialah berkongsi ilmu. Bagi kita yang dapat melayari Internet, kita bernasib baik kerana dapat membaca terus kata-kata dari para nasionalis seperti Tun Dr. Mahathir, A Kadir Jasin, dan ramai lagi. Tetapi, bagaimana pula mereka yang tidak tahu pun bagaimana hendak menghidupkan komputer? Bagaimana mereka yang ingin tahu tetapi tidak pasti di mana hendak bermula?
Golongan ini sebenarnya besar. Ayah saya juga dari golongan ini. Sekian lama dia bergantung kepada Utusan Malaysia untuk berita, tetapi tahu-tahulah akhbar itu sekarang, jadi ayah saya sekarang beli Utusan lebih untuk balut nangka.
Maka saya printkan blog-blog Tun dan A Kadir Jasin, dan poskan kepada ayah saya. Guna pos-tak laju. Penglihatannya sudah kabur, jadi perlahanlah sikit dia membaca. Tetapi bila-bila saya telefon dia, dia sangat bersemangat, bercerita negara kita ini sedang diperkotak-katikkan oleh teman sendiri tahulah siapa. Ayah saya sudah minta saya terus menghantar artikel-artikel ini, dan akan saya lakukan. Dia ramai menerima tetamu di rumah, dan saya tersenyum saja membayangkan dia berceramah kepada mereka.
Saya akan lakukan yang sama untuk Pak Usu saya, serta beberapa rakan. Saya pasti, teman juga boleh buat benda yang sama. Teman lebih tahu siapa yang teman boleh percaya. Libatkan mereka. Sesetengah orang, contohnya ayah saya, sudah sedia untuk menerima mesej ini. Yang lain-lain pula perlu kita tarik perhatian mereka dengan apa yang mereka pentingkan. Bertanya “Kamu nak belajar pasal politik?” tidak akan membuahkan hasil. Cuba pula “kamu tanya kenapa semua barang naik harga? Si Kadir Jasin ada tulis pasal tu, nanti aku bagi kamu, pendek saja,” atau “kamu bimbang? Kamu, aku, dan Tun sekalipun bimbang sama. Dia cerita minggu lepas. Aku hantar kat kamu, seronok gak aku baca.” Nampak gaya? Teman semestinya ada cara tersendiri. Sebarkan mesej ini kepada semua, terutama sekali kepada orang-orang di negeri-negeri BN. Ajar mereka untuk baca blog. Saya yakin bahawa bloggers-bloggers kita akan memastikan bekalan sentiasa segar dan banyak.
Kenapa perlu kita berbuat begini? Kerana, walaupun mungkin susah kita terima, golongan blogger dan pembaca blog masih minoriti di negara ini. Kita perlu menjadi majoriti. Setidak-tidaknya, kita perlu supaya majoriti rakyat Malaysia faham isu-isu di sebalik masalah-masalah negara ini. Ingat, puak minoriti yang tidak difahami akan dicap “puak pelampau”, tetapi kelompok yang disokong rakyat dipanggil “pejuang kemerdekaan.”
Perlu saya jelaskan sesuatu di sini. Saya bukannya penyokong parti pembangkang. Secara peribadi, saya tidak percaya bahawa AI akan menjadi seorang PM yang baik. Beliau nampaknya lebih gembira bermain politik daripada memperjuang nasib rakyat. Mungkin media arus perdana tidak membawa mesej beliau, tetapi apa yang sampai kepada saya, nampaknya beliau lebih mahukan orang melompat bagaikan katak.
Saya percaya pembangkang menang bukan kerana rakyat telah cintakan PKR, PAS, DAP. Mereka lebih bencikan AAB. Sangat, sangat benci. Demi Allah, banduan boleh menang pilihanraya. Macam mana dia kempen? Jadi, kata-kata saya di sini hanya kerana saya sayangkan negara ini. Saya pasti teman juga sama.
Berbalik kepada topik kita. Telah saya sebutkan tadi, teman buatlah apa yang dirasakan perlu. Saya memilih untuk berbuat begini kerana inilah yang paling mudah untuk saya lakukan. Saya tidak pernah berpolitik, dan saya tidak pernah aktif apa-apa persatuan. Dan, saya membuat andaian bahawa tindakan inilah yang akan memberi pulangan yang paling besar dalam jangka masa sederhana dan panjang. Jangka pendek? Saya tidak percaya itu strategi yang baik untuk politik. Tetapi, saya mungkin salah. Moga-moga Tun atau Datuk Kadir sudi berbesar hati dan menerangkan tentang perkara ini.
Teman, tidak kira apa jua yang teman pilih untuk buat, saya pinta satu perkara. Jangan sesekali membahayakan integriti kita, terutama sekali milik Tun dan penulis-penulis lain. Tutur kata mereka sangat penting untuk kita tarik perhatian pihak-pihak yang kita mahu. Jadi, jangan memperbesar atau mengadakan cerita, memperdaya, ataupun menipu. Kukuhnya kita kerana kebenaran. Tipu daya itu mainan mereka yang mahu kita buang, orang-orang yang sudah takut dengan bayang-bayang sendiri.
Suatu ketika dulu, ibu bapa kita berhimpun untuk menjatuhkan musuh, dan mereka berjaya. Sekarang, giliran kita pula. Mungkin kita tidak tahu bagaimana mahu kita buat, tetapi tahukah mereka dahulu? Jika kita cuba, akan ada harapan menang walaupun setipis mana. Kalau kita diam tidak berbuat apa-apa, maka kejatuhan kita sudah termaktub.
Sudikah teman berjuang sama?
