To All of the Malaysians Who Feel Emotional and Helpless Today:

#NotMyPM has trended to the top of Twitter Malaysia following the announcement of the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as the 8th Prime Minister of our country. Within 7 days, the party voted in favor of the citizens from 2 years ago was rid, it was Pakatan Harapan the coalition that ended 61 years of UMNO-BN Rule. The meaning behind GE14 was more that winning an election for a party, more than supporting PH’s manifesto and its ideology. It represents the decades long yearning for a country that Malaysia so deserving to be — absence of injustices, scandals, arrogance and tainted UMNO-BN elites. The GE14 ballot boxes were filled with votes that yell “I have enough of this corrupt shits, this racist shits, this inequality shits, and all sort of tax money ambiguities.” On top of all, we the citizens have been sick to the core of being cheated. This week, we feel cheated.

Was today a symbol of a failed democracy? No. I agree with what the then 4th Prime Minister Dr Mathathir Mohammad once declared on behalf of the nation that we practice “realistic democracy”:

Malaysia is not over-zealous about the democratic system to the point where we accept without question everything that is done in the name of democracy. If the people and the country benefit, then we will accept practices, which are said to be democratic. If the people and the nation get only worst from any practice that is said to be democratic, we will give priority to what is good for the country and the people, and put aside the questions of whether or not it is democratic…What is important in a system of governance is the people and the nation’s well-being. — Tun M

There, he summarizes the nature of Malaysian state pretty well — it is authoritarian. At least, perceptively semi-authoritarian. While I agree with what he stated as the matter of fact. Do I like it? Do we like it? Seeing the netizens’ response today on social media, the answer is a ‘no’ to both questions.

The truth is, this “realistic democracy” has put us into emotional turmoil. We are defaulted with insecure as our memory is inked with all the cheats and manipulations. Our guardedness is a learned behavior. Literally, we just walked out from a long fire where the fire departments (a.k.a. Attorney-General’s Chambers, the…