The AUDACITY of HOPE

The junior U.S. Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, was propelled to national prominence at the 2004 Democratic Convention when he delivered a rousing keynote address entitled “The Audacity of Hope.” In the less than 20 minutes it took to deliver the speech, Obama was catapulted to sudden fame, with many analysts predicting that he may be well-positioned to enter a future presidential race. If this propels him to greater heights we still have to see.

I chose this title for this article because that's how most Malaysians felt before the wonderful day of March 8th 2008. We achieved the unpredictable. We denied BN the two thirds majority and took five states and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Hope and the will power of the rakyat was all we had. Lim Kit Siang had the audacity to hope that his son will become the next CM of Penang. Then hope became reality.

The Audacity of Hope still continues for all of us. We have to have the audacity to hope that racism, religious extremism, corruption and cronyism can be gotten rid of. We have to have the audacity to hope that the integrity and the image of judiciary can be restored. We have to have the audacity of hope no Malaysian is left behind be it Malay, Chinese, Indian or Lain-lain. We have to have the audacity to hope that our children will inherit a better Malaysia than what we have had.

"Hope" I define here as detailed entry under "trust", where we are told that hope is the value of placing allegiance in a trustworthy and reliable source with whom we have a solid, interpersonal relationship. In this case Barisan Rakyat. Here we have the audacity to hope they will provide a transparent, trustworthy, clean, fair and efficient government. Is it too much too hope for? Can we do it? As in the now famous Barrack Obama slogan "Yes we can!".