About now

Pak Lah has been quiet for a while. I don’t know what he’s been up to. I read he’s on vacation. The media speculates he’s priming for a cabinet reshuffle. A number of bloggers and their readers are expressing restlessness. One comment labeled him “boring”. There are cries for him to show up for work.

Me, I think it may be the most fertile period in our recent history.

I may not know where we’re headed as a society nor dare I hold my breath, but I’d take Pak Lah at the helm any day. The way I see it, thanks to his leadership – yes leadership – we’re moved into chrysalis mode getting ready for a new dawn. It’ll take a while and there’s no guarantee of good fortunes. And, more than ever, it will largely depend on us, the people. That makes all the difference. There is only one predictable message and it comes in the form of questions: What do you think? How do you feel? So how?

Sages throughout the ages have hailed the quality of silence and the unseen leader. By stepping back, individuals wake up, interest groups form, neighborhoods organize, people think, people care, ideas collide. Thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis. And we move on.

We move on as sentient creatures, able to carry a debate as a baby is carried – with responsibility; hoist our values as our flag is hoisted – with pride. And fight never to remain as sheep in a heavy-handed system. Nevermore.

An unseen leader essentially says: If you want it, earn it. And if it is the right thing, it will become culture.

The signs are there. Against the tide of lip-puckering ass-kissing, datuk kowtowing, lies, spin, dumb laws, GLC screw-ups and cover-ups, RM7,000-a-day consultants, local university wayangs, is she or isn’t she a Malay, the signs of intelligence are there.

The Moorthy case has brought about healthy debate. NGOs are not taking the episode lying down. It even prompted the former A-G to chastise judges in the civil courts for not having balls.

The Islamic Family Law (FT)’s induction is exposing what the solemn act of lawmaking in Malaysia is really like. Hey, let’s see who’ll get whipped, party Whip.

The AP episode lifted the veils of opacity an inch further to reveal some very curious decisions made by MITI. It also revealed the beauty of the Internet in enabling DAP’s Kit obtain real-time information to bring up as questions in Parliament. Carbon Copy, you're really a diamond.

The Bar Council’s rediscovering its voice, Bukit Cahaya is severely blighted but not obliterated, MPPJ’s got a swollen eye, and Taman Seri Petaling folks took Samy to task, bullock carts and all.

And I think women – more than at any other time in our history – are showing that they do matter with poise, heart and grey matter. Of late, they have made major inroads in redefining this country’s political, moral and social landscape. While the asses in Parliament continue to bray, while the Whip continues to subjugate conscience, there’s a tender thunder rolling in from Sepet to Seputeh, from squash to squats. And of course, the musings of the daughter of our previous PM continues to be insightful. The presence of these individuals and groups has been huge.

I’m all for Pak Lah – no keris, no hoots, no semuanya okay – because he enables. He won’t will the system. He probably knows he cannot. It’s too thick with muck for a single person anyway. Chances are, he wants you to do it. You and I.

Work with me, he said back then before disappearing backstage, fingers lightly on the steering wheel, and letting things be. It’s unnerving. Where’s papa? So hard to see in the fog, so many voices, so many views. Ouch police beat me. Eeeyer, so cheap - I osso wanna buy Agusta.

Stay on the course, stay true. And one by one, uncoerced, we learn to see again, listen and speak again. In our breast-pocket, waiting by our beating heart, is a vote. And ugly can be seen as ugly, good as good, in all their shades and hues. The questions remain: What do you think? How do you feel? So how?

These are the days, I tell myself, Pak Lah days. I can't tell if it's enlightened decision or plain inept, I really can't. But I sure appreciate it because the ball's in the people's court. The surface may not have changed, but inside the chrysalis is far from dormant. It feeds on one attitude: If you want it, earn it.

Let’s feed it well. You and I.