It's getting real

I remember after watching the video of A.Kugan's mangled body I immediately froze. Partly because that was a really distraughting video, that Malaysiakini chose to post on of all place, Youtube; partly because he was only the same age as Marc when he died.

I hung on tight to Marc, but I've never showed him the video. To me, he wasn't the kind of person who'd be interested in such videos or such issues. But I did tell him I was afraid of the same thing happening to him because these youths are being suppressed, threatenned and now, killed. He assured me it will never happen, not among our friends or family.

How wrong he was.

Activists who were parading the candlelight vigil on August 1 were arrested and placed in lock-ups. One of them, was Marc's friend. He wasn't too worried but it was obvious that he got slightly disturbed that the police force were so hard-handed this time around, even though there might or might not be a permit for this to go on.

I just nudged and told him: "It's getting real".

Yes, we youngsters who used to "dream" and view such things always say it'll never happen on us, possibly because we were so caught up in our bubble of comfort and class, that we are immune to these things that some day it will never occur to us.

Well it did. And we need to get real to embrace that. To put aside the fears and address what is really wrong with the country.

I don't want to be dramatic and say "to die for this country", but anything can happen. Maybe spending a time in the lock up, maybe to be scolded at by your superiors for writing such an article that paints it badly against government, maybe it's about trying to convince the youngsters to look with their eyes, and that if they do take sides, who is to blame them?

The problem with being in one side: in my case, the liberal side, is that we forgot to take into account what other people felt like in the other side of the spectrum. I went to the camp, and with it I brought my ideologies. I met this girl and I have to say, I took great stride not to feel offended by her remarks about the world and its mechanisms. Turns out I was wrong to assume everyone is liberated. She came from Vietnam, to which I did not know (and don't judge me because I never follow the Vietnam War) it is a Communist country. So really, we sometimes bring these ideologies thinking others are sharing the same and then you realised, when you take great pains NOT to feel offended by her ideologies you're actually prepared to be listening. Even though you lapsed and complained about her sometimes when she's not around. Self-proclaimed guilty gossipy person here.

So yea, while we should get real and address issues like abolishment of oppressive policies, should we also blame the police force for what they do? Should we actually analysed and say "who are these people? the grunts or the commander?" Based on what I've been reading about these ISA arrests, they sounded more like the grunt than the commander. And these people are the ones getting criticised at.

Sure, this is the police force, you people may argue. They should be aware of their powers and how they could've use, or abuse them. Sure, then the people would also be aware of their powers, and how they could've use, or abuse them. Then it'll become a neverending debate on who's power should succumb to who really.

There'll always be two sides of the powers that attempts to take over the hearts of the majority. The interesting part is who eventually will win and tell their side of the story via the media? But that's left for another post for discussion.

The problem is to make people wake up and exercise their responsibilities. The problem is getting to burst these people's bubble and say "get real! if the force is coming you think you won't be spared?". And the problem of course, was to balance the arguments between these two sides and choosing in the end to believe in which one.

I do know this one small accomplishment: Marc is actually starting to be aware. It'll be tough trying to push for something bigger, but a small poke of awareness can lead to bigger actions in the future.

I'm hopeful. Because everything is getting real for all of us. The power struggles, the leadership exercises, the agony and discontent of the people. It's getting real.