The Need For Conflict

Hello Earthlings. Yeah, I know. It has been a while? Why? Because screw ADP Death Week (read: Shitload of assignments) and now, I'm in the middle of my very last Final in Taylor's ADP. Still haven't studied much and one more project to do. Haiz...

But on the side note, it is time for the GENERAL ELECTION~~~YIPPIE *shoots confetti*

Why am I so excited? Because -to quote an uncle in Facebook-,

"True, GE13 is the Mother Of All Elections, in the sense that for the first time in Malaysian history, a change of government is seen possible, if not probable. But at the end of the day, it should not simply boil down to a Battle Of The Ulamaks, Songkok Tinggi vs Kopiah Putih, Hudud vs Dangdut, Winnable vs Wannabe, Manifesto vs Akujanji, Haves vs Have-nots, Ini Kali Lah vs Lain Kali Lah or whatever. Nor should it have extremely racial or religious tones. Or gutter politics like peddling pornographic pictures and videos, whether genuine or edited."

-Zaim Al-Amin-

And just to make things clear, I'm a non-partisan in the battle of two factions. I love both of them and hate both of them equally. (See? It is great. Come to the non-partisan side!) But that doesn't matter I should be apathetic and not give a care/damn at all. I do care, mostly because politics is so closely related to economics and it is oddly interesting to see the interaction between the two. As I scroll through my Facebook and Twitter laden with various political posts such as-

"Ya Allah, Mereka ingin menguasai XXX. Hilanglah XXX daripada dunia ini. BANGKIT!"
"Mereka kejam and penipu. Ubah dan pangkah XXX"
"Negara ini akan menjadi XXX jika XXX menguasai!"
"Bangla masuk! Dafuq?"

And seriously, the quality of arguments presented by both parties are...well...BAD. The arguments reeked ignorance and sheer stupidity and 'macai-ness'. (Though I won't deny there is some golden argument presented in the internet as such the ever-famous Rafizi's open letter) And don't let me started on the photoshopped pictures -.-

But see, one thing I realized through the course of GE:13 is that the amount of patriotism towards one's country. I have this stereotype in my head saying, "Heh, Malaysians are a bunch of non-patriotic people". I WAS WRONG. And this election around, for the first time ever we get to see the Gen Y people finally being able to vote. This Gen Y people, hip and technologically connected became an important political tool in this election and in my opinion will turn around this coming election. With their fresh ideas, I believe the Gen Y people can make Malaysia into a better country.

HOWEVER

This is where the problem starts. Sure, Gen Y is being able to vote for the first time in history but that doesn't mean the older generation will be obsolete. Older generation aka the Baby Boomers and Gen X are...well, more conservative compared to the more liberal Gen Y. Some of them were born before Merdeka and a fair number of them still remembered the tragedy of 13th May 1969. Some of them still have racial sentiments and some of them still thinks Malaysia is as good as it is, compared to the yesteryears.

Because of that, it creates conflict between the 'new' and the 'old'. The new wanted change, to restructure Malaysia, to take apart, to clean the interior and build it back again. The old wanted to preserve stability, to oil up the parts and to put up a new coat of paint for Malaysia. Sure, there are some of the 'old' who thinks like a 'new' and vice versa but generally, this is where they belong at the spectrum of ideology.

So, is this bad?

Hardly, this is what we should be experiencing to achieve progress. You see, conflicting ideologies is not necessarily a bad thing. (It will if some A-hole decided to go violent) In a calm and intellectual debate, the two conflicting ideology can find a middle a ground and balance each other out. Sure, I don't want to live in a Malaysia that is super strict and conservative that I can't even 'melatah' (eg: Babs gila!) I need my dose of 'melatah'. And I don't want to live in a Malaysia where it is super liberal and free without any authority. Yeah, I'm over exaggerating here but you get my point.

So calm down people. Conflict is normal. Who knows, we can live in a better Malaysia after this?