This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 30, 2019 - January 5, 2020

THE rakyat — that’s who takes the top spot for Newsmakers of the Decade 2010-2019. The choice is obvious and unanimous.

Of all the nominees, they are the most deserving of this recognition for ending the rule of the longest-running democratic government in the world in the 14th general election of May 9 last year.

The credit goes to the people of all walks of life who rose above their differences to make that election a much-coveted turning point for our nation, by delivering the first change of government in Malaysian history.

In so doing after 61 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional coalition, we gave ourselves the chance to rid the system of entrenched interests and reset the country’s direction towards good governance once more.

It is a promise of a new dawn that has been called a second Merdeka for the people. All too soon, however, the sky has darkened as the people’s mood has soured over the sluggish pace of reforms, communal tensions and political infighting.

But the people’s place at the head of the parade has not been earned only on the weight of the watershed last election.

During the course of the decade, they rose up time and time again to defy the oppressive orders of a corrupt administration that tried to shut down the growing discontent of a people appalled at the excesses of a government that had lost touch with the citizens.

A people’s reform movement took shape around Bersih 2.0, the coalition for clean and fair elections and change agents like Tindak Malaysia and later Invoke, which seek to educate and empower Malaysians to be active and effective participants in the political process.

The colour yellow chosen by Bersih 2.0 as a symbol of its cause became an emblem for the people to show their dissatisfaction with the authorities for suppressing democratic freedoms.

The streets of Kuala Lumpur and other major urban centres turned into a sea of sunshine as the people turned out in the thousands whenever Bersih 2.0 called for public rallies.

Volunteers around the country signed up to become polling and counting agents for the general elections to do their watchful part to ensure that cheating did not take place at the ballot.

Also to the people’s credit, they have shown maturity and restraint in the face of countless provocative episodes of racial and religious intolerance in recent years.

No doubt there has been plenty of anxiety and even anger over the apparent crossing of boundaries between Malay Muslim sensitivities and those of the non-Malay, non-Muslim section of the population.

Right-wing leaders from both sides have not lost the opportunity to muddy the waters at each display of extremism or parochial thinking that has surfaced.

Thanks to the advent of the new media, prejudiced and vicious views about The Other tend to feed on themselves and often seem to be poisoning the public domain.

However, Malaysians have proved on each occasion that they are not about to fall for the irresponsible race-baiting in cyber space.

For sure, the people would realise that the second chance to make a success of the Malaysian story that was so dearly won in the last general election cannot be sustained without their wholehearted support.

After all, the memory of the many inspiring stories that happened during the landmark election is still relatively fresh. It is an epic tale of the triumph of the people’s will that drove strangers to cooperate and support one another in an amazing display of common purpose.

Underlying all the drama and tension of that stellar moment in the nation’s history was a belief that our country deserves a better future than the downward spiral that it had fallen into.

It is that spirit of the people’s resilience that we salute in this commemorative look at the decade gone by.

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