ON MAY 9, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition – after 61 years of ruling Malaysia since our country’s independence in 1957 – was defeated in the 14th General Election. And for the first time in our history, the Opposition under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition came into power to form a new government.
Political commentator, author and journalist Kee Thuan Chye has captured the spirit of that momentous event in his latest book, The People’s Victory: How Malaysians Saved Their Country.
“I wrote the book because we have achieved something very historic,“ says Kee, who is also a playwright, director, and actor. “It is something we have been fighting for so long.”
He adds that “when you are an underdog and when you win, the feeling can be fantastic”.
Wanting to translate this fantastic feeling into words, Kee wrote the book within three months after the victory, with the hope of getting it out before the post-election euphoria has died down.
He says that during the final month of writing, he did not step out of his house because he wanted to complete the book on time.
“But I would not recommend anyone to write a book in three months,” he adds. “It is bad for your health.”
From reading the book, one can see that Kee has done a lot of research on the election. The best thing about it is the entertaining and uncomplicated manner in which he tells the story.
In my opinion, this is possibly the best book that Kee has written in his career.
The book reads like a film script, with the story laid out in three acts.
The first act is entitled Despair. It takes readers back to the 2013 general election, when the Opposition came desperately close to claiming victory, before BN under the now-former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak managed to cling on to power.
The second act is titled Hope, where Kee focuses on the 1MBD scandal, the ‘ghost’ that continues to haunt Najib to this day.
It also looks at another former prime minister, the 92-year-old Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a staunch BN man-turned-Opposition leader who joined forces with the very man he had earlier sent to jail for 20 years, to topple the party he once led for 22 years.
The third act is titled Euphoria, and centres on the 2018 election night, and the victory of PH in We Did It!
I particularly appreciate the fact that Kee never tries to put any political leader on a pedestal in his book.
In fact, he has made it a point to focus on ordinary people who had the guts to stand up for their beliefs, such as army officer Major Zaidi Ahmad, and Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan.
The chapter on Major Zaidi is especially profound. This Royal Air Force officer lodged a police report on the so-called indelible ink, which he claimed was easily washed off during the 13th general election.
The major thought it was his responsibility to make sure that unscrupulous people were prevented from voting multiple times. For making his report, he ended up being court-martialled, and was eventually dismissed from the Armed Forces.
Another interesting figure in the book is political cartoonist Zunar, who was attacked by some 30 people during his art exhibition in Penang in Nov 25, 20I6. They kicked over some of his works, and threatened to burn his books.
To add salt to the wound, Zunar was later arrested for sedition (for the 10th time), while no action was ever taken against his attackers.
Then there is filmmaker, street artist and activist Fahmi Reza, the brave soul who dared to feature Najib as a clown in one of his drawings.
“My book is not just about the political big guns,” Kee says. “The victory happened because the people wanted it, and people worked for it ...
“The election result showed that we as Malaysians have the power to change our destiny, and we have the power to decide who should govern us.”
Since PH took over, there have been some complaints that the new government not being as effective as many had hoped.
“Do you want the old government back?” Kee counters. “They are new. Of course, there will be some shortcomings.
“The important thing is that we as the people have to be vigilant and keep them on their toes. We have to make sure they do not go back to the [bad] old ways.”
