Knowing me, knowing you -- Zalman Zulkifli

The blogs, Facebook and Twitter resonate with opinions which are trending toward a tone of moderation. We of different races and religions calm each other down as the Press fans the ambers of hate and opinions that, in turn, sparks more hate. As polarised opinion fuels the fire of racial sentiments, calmer voices are heard defending the peaceful truth: and cooler heads often prevail.

Even we the Muslims in general are sensitive about the authorities being too sensitive.

We are actually good people. Good people who want to make a good, decent living, and call it a good life when all is said and done. The polarisation of politics, race, and religion is simply propaganda designed to create a cloak over the bid for power. We all know this.

The election may be won by political parties, but it is fueled by the masses. And in this writer's opinion the masses are not divided. Of the 13,268,002 voters who turned up, which consisted of 84.63% of our eligible voters, not all of them are tied to either side of the political picket fences. Most of us are simply average Joes who are happy as long as we get to go about our daily lives. Most of us don't even care about what the politicians say or do. Give us the basics and let us make a living, and please for goodness sake, please leave us alone.

However, because we have a silent majority, the sound that the noisy minority make is loud.

The ruling party and the opposing party both have to prep themselves in their bid for power again. Five years come and go really fast. The eroding confidence in the ruling party and their dwindling number of seats won are of course worrying for them. This is the lowest majority ever achieved for the ruling party at 59.91% of the parliamentary seats. And if I was sitting in any of the 133 seats won, I'd be hanging to it for dear life.

The opposition may be enjoying the tsunami season that keeps coming their way, but will it last? They know they need a massive win, to really win. They know this. And while the support from the urbanites seems solid, there is still a lot of seats to win over, to win the nation over. And people are watching. Watching for the amalgamation of differing beliefs. Between the deep-rooted values of meritocracy, hudud, and anti-establishment believes that forms the core of each of the major parties in the opposition, will the loosely coupled marriage of convenience last? Who will end up ruling the coalition? What are the succession plans? Which policy wins over conflicting or opposing opinions? There are still too many questions intentionally left unanswered. And it is unanswered because the answers are hard.

So these questions sit there, floating in the pond like a lily pad waiting for its frog prince. And everyone hopes that when the frog finally leaps unto the leaf, it doesn't sink. But no one knows the answer. So they let it float and hope for the best. Apparently they will deal with it when the time comes.

Now the great news.

In this heightened campaign that never ends, something good comes out of it. We get to know each other a lot better! The Malays learn about the struggles of the non-Malays. The non-Muslims learn about the lines the Muslims draw and have to toe in their daily lives. The non-Malays realize that not all Malays are the same. And the Malays realize that not all Malays are the same! Some Malays perhaps are just more Malay then others, apparently. "Malay-ness" and "Malaysian-ness" come into being.

And in the midst of all this noise, we grow up.

We need the pain of chaos to find solace in peace. And when we could have chaos in the relative safety of the virtual world, it perhaps is the best kind of chaos. As all sides cast aside their cloaks, come out and make lots of noise, we the people get to learn. And we get to choose a side that makes sense to us. And as mentioned earlier we are NOT a bunch of loonies: voting and supporting whomever simply because of their color or the god of their choice. We live in a great country, where we were educated well. We have a chance to learn about the struggles of other countries. We have uncensored internet and those of us who want to learn more... could. And most of us did. So we became an informed community. Contrary to what the politicians believe, we the people are actually very smart and are getting smarter.

In honor of our 56th Merdeka, this post is really about you and I. About you knowing me, and me knowing you.

We banter, we chatter, and sometimes we do a bit of slander. Regardless of what our opinions are of our leaders and their stand on things, we could all stand tall and be proud of ourselves. We keep this country peaceful. We as a society are perhaps one of the most peace loving group of people around. We don't become this way simply because of our education. We are this way because our leaders in the past made sure that we all value peace above everything else.

We don't take peace for granted. And we never did.

We may have our differences, but we have also been indifferent to any calls for violence. I hope that my children and their children after them shall inherit a country that, above everything else, values the peace that it has. The love we have for peace shall be the foundation for greatness to come. We're 56 and by a country's age that is young. We're practically a teenager. And we have a lot of growing up to do.

I wish everyone reading this Selamat Merdeka, and let's make this nation, one that we're all proud of. Peacefully.

_____________________________