It’s about doing what is right, and being prepared to pay the price.

Folklore is replete with tales of epic battles that have been fought between warring camps.

Few, though, inspire like that between young David and the giant Goliath.

Some accounts have it that rather than have two armies clash leaving a bloody battlefield,  both warring camps decided that each would offer a warrior who would battle to the very end, thereby resolving the dispute with the minimum of casualty.

Goliath, famed for his brute strength, stepped forward, ready to do battle for his side.

Seeing Goliath, no one from the other camp came forward.

David, still a youth, slight in build but blessed with the heart of a lion, stepped forward to do battle with Goliath.

History has it that with one slingshot, self-belief and a firm conviction that he was on a path that pleased God, David took aim, let fly, and brought the giant Goliath down.

Last night, like David, the good people of Sibu brought the evil giant, BN, to its knees.  

I take nothing away from Pakatan Rakyat and its effective election machinery when I say that the results of the latest by-election are a resounding victory for the people of Sibu to reject a corrupt regime and to vote for change.

Many who followed the drama taking place in the counting centre last night on the internet were left with a sense that the EC was working to deny the people of Sibu their choice of representative. Kudos to DAP for their vigilance and steely resolve to not allow this travesty. 

SUPP’s Robert Lau, the losing BN candidate, upon official confirmation that dsepite all the attempts to buy the people of Sibu with money and all sorts of promises, DAP’s Wong Ho Leng had won the right to represent Sibuans in parliament by a majority of 398, lamented, “I’m sad, because Sibu is going to lose out on a lot of things”.

Robert Lau, and many in BN, have still not understood that Malaysians are now prepared to forego the promise of short-term gains and privileges and opt instead to lend further force to the wind of change that continues to sweep through our nation.

BN cannot comprehend that there are decent people who will do the right thing, and will bear the consequences for the same.

We can be sure, though, that in the coming days, weeks, and months, we will again witness the ugly side of UMNO and its servants amongst the bloggers, NGOs and the media striving to portray the results of the Sibu by-election as a contest between the Malays and the Chinese for political dominance.

Those most vulnerable to this insiduous hate campaign by UMNO and its newly established radical wing, Persatuan Kaum Anti-Sistem Allah, or better known as PERKASA, as always, are the Malays whose only source of news and information are the mainstream Malay newspapers and UMNO-owned or controlled TV and radio stations.

A Malaysiakini report headlined the Sibu by-election results as the political tsunami of 8th March, 2008 having finally reached East Malaysia.

If that depiction accurately explains the by-election result, it is suggestive that between the last general election and this most recent by-election, sufficient information to thwart the lies and misinformation of the mainsream media, was conveyed to sufficient numbers of voters.

We will have to await a more comprehensive analysis of the election results to obtain a clearer picture whether BN lost in Sibu to a majority of informed voters.

As we await that analysis, though, we have our work cut out for us to neutralise the hate campaign that UMNO will now surely try to take to the Malays, particularly in the rural heartlands.

In this regard, it is regrettable that the Pakatan Rakyat state governments have not moved to take advantage of section 25(5) of the Printing Press & Publications Act, which allows state governments to publish their own newspapers without need for a Home Ministry permit, by doing just that. Wong Chin Huat has presented to one or more of the PR state governments a working paper for such a newspaper but to-date, none have shown a willingness to undertake this effort that would go a long way to help fight the lies of the mainstream media.

It would seem that until that happens, the task of taking information to the less informed rakyat falls on each of us who want to see the change in regime that this country so desperately needs.

Give thought to how we can get information out to the less informed.

Be creative.

And be brave.

We must each do our part, and do what each of us can,  and we must not be daunted by thoughts of the cost to each of us.

The change that we desire to see in our country cannot be attained without sacrifice.

The civil society-driven DN of BN : Kuburkan BN initiative was soft launched during the Hulu Selangor by-election.

As UMNO pushes forth its message of hate, this civil society initiative will be taken nationwide in our endeavour to tell the rakyat the truth about how, over the years, BN, its leaders and their cronies have plundered the wealth of our nation and have reduced the institutions established under the constitution to protect the rakyat into nothing more than tools to subjugate the people.

And we will tell the rakyat that change can only come if, at the 13th General Elections, we collectively bury BN.

Posted in: People Power