So Barack Obama is now President-elect of the United States of America. Today is indeed a historic moment not only to Americans but also to the entire world. For today is the day that we celebrate the victory of a African-American President.
Everybody seems to be proud of him even here in Malaysia. Some bloggers are jubilated of the fact that the US President-elect is a Muslim.
Muslim? Really? I don't think so.
According to Wikipedia, Barack Obama is actually a Protestant Christian (United Church of Christ). It also says that it was Obama's grandfather who was Muslim. Anyway, that's not the sole reason why everybody is happy with the landslide(?) victory. It is also because that he was brought up in Indonesia which exposed him to Asian values. This means that we have a world leader of whom everyone can relate themselves to and who has a better understanding of how this part of the world operates.
As America looks forward to a promising and better tomorrow meanwhile in this part of the world, we are still struggling with our favourite flip-flopping premier, Pak Lah.
Talking about flip-flops, the recent reversal of the scrapping of gas pipeline project is met with disappointment from UPKO President Bernard Dompok. The worst thing is that the Sabah State Government meekly accepted the decision reversal and pooh-pooed the whole thing as crying over spilled milk. I can understand Dompok's frustration. How can one fight for and defend his state when the state government allowed themselves to bend over to this flip-flopping moron? Sad to say that we are so far behind in attaining visionary status. How can we even dream of change when everyone is happily swimming in corruption?
This leads us back to President-elect Obama. The possibility of producing a black president happened 45 years ago, when a brave leader, Martin Luther King Jr delivered his inspirational speech, " I Have A Dream". He was assassinated in 1968 and Obama became President-elect in 2008. King had to fall in order for Obama to rise. King paid with his life in serving his community.
In order to hope for change, we need to make sacrifice. Dare we hope for change? Or are we too scared? To me, Dompok is courageous in voicing out his discontentment. My fear is that he might step on too many toes and might back-fire upon him. After reading what the government is capable of doing in dealing with dissent, I grow worrisome. They might even consider assassination. Even from prison, RPK is still blogging and that is an indication of him not shutting up for anyone or anything.
My point?
Self-sacrifice is needed for change.
Is anybody gamed?
Posts
