Obama makes history!

Obama wins! Barack Hussein Obama beat Republican rival McCain to become the 44th US President in one of the most closely watched and bitterly fought presidential elections. It's not a landslide win as some say (Obama beat McCain by 52 percent to 46 percent) but it's an historic day as Obama becomes the nation’s first African American President, a true child of the civil rights movement, whose achievements can be traced back to the legacy of men like Martin Luther King:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

It’s 45 years from the day Martin Luther King first electrified Washington with his speech. Today, whatever detractors may say of the world’s “last superpower” and its internal contradictions, the US has demonstrated it has not lost sight of its creed. Indeed all men are created equal, and anyone who loves his country and aspires to the nation’s highest office can achieve it. Now there's a lesson for Malaysia.

Links:

Obama’s victory speech:
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. (More)

McCain’s concession speech:
In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving. (More)

.....and conservative Bill Dyer's congrats:
God bless you and keep you, sir. I have been among your harshest critics, in good faith I hope, and I will continue to speak out when I think you're wrong. I pray for the grace, though, to acknowledge those times when you are right, and for the decency to accord you with the full respect that is due to anyone who holds the office which you are about to embark. (More)

My 40% political struggle?

It’s a rollercoaster ride for political reform in the country, the thrill of anticipation largely dampened by the fact that we can’t get off the car nor the seemingly pointless loop. I do not have any illusion that change is a-comin’ just because of March 8; we are a long way off and some entrenched attitudes about race, religion, and rights, continue to have a stranglehold. So I continue to breathe with difficulties.

The latest statement from the Conference of Rulers was little comfort. I know that parties and individuals left and right of the political divide have hailed it as a vote for the Constitution, etc, but that’s not saying much is it? Here’s the bit that got to me:

The rulers also called on the Malays to remain united, saying that this was more important than political or factional interests.

They said: 'The Conference of Rulers also calls on the Malays to be united to safeguard the privileges, position, eminence and greatness of the Malay rulers, safeguard Islam, Malay as the national language, and the genuine interests of the other communities in Malaysia as enshrined in the federal Constitution.

'It has to be emphasised that this agenda is more important and foremost than political or factional interests.'

It would have meant more if there was an explicit call for all Malaysians to be united. After all, shouldn’t this above all, be “more important than political or factional interests”?

I think no right-thinking Malaysian would deny the institution of the rulers or Malay rights. What I am concerned about is how such a position squares with a guarantee that the genuine interests and rights of non-Malays are 'safeguarded,' since the interpretation and practice of these guarantees are so fickle?

It appears that as a non-Malay born on Malaysian soil, I do have a rightful place under the Malaysian sun, but with one caveat. I only have to accept that my rightful place will never be equal nor – heavens - larger than those of the Malays. Going by this interpretation, it also appears my legal rights and my social rights will never, ever be reconciled.

I’m thinking to myself: what then is my political struggle all about?

If it is not for equal standing with my Malay brothers and sisters, what cause have I to call myself an Anak Malaysia? Or as some people seem to imply, if non-Malays would only be happy with their 40%, everything would be nice and wonderful.

The Titanic Sails At Dawn

Who will go down with it?

No sign of Yi Jien

Time's running out for Yi Jien. A 31 August post on The Daily Interlake carried this update:

A Glacier National Park map looks like a child has been scribbling on it for hours, but those curling and zigzagging lines aren’t random scribbles.They depict carefully choreographed routes in the ongoing Yi-Jien Hwa Search and Rescue mission in Glacier National Park.

Hwa, a 27-year-old from Kentucky and Malaysia, was last seen Aug. 11 and the search for him has been under way since Aug. 19.

The map shows helicopter flight routes in purple, ground-search team routes in red, all based on GPS tracking. It shows yellow polygons of areas that have been carefully “scoped” from vantage points along search routes. It does not represent the initial search areas before GPS devices were put to use, nor does it show all of the areas that have been glassed with binoculars and spotting scopes.“We think the map represents 70 percent of the searching we’ve done,” said Dennis Divoky, one of the search team leaders. [More]

Meanwhile back in KL, friends are praying against all odds for some clue, a word, a sign - anything - that could point to a hopeful end. 1 Peter 1:6-7 offers the view that trials come by God's design to prove our faith. Of course, God doesn't need to test us in order to know what we're made of; trials come so that we will know what our own faith is made of. Referring to this passage of Scripture, John Piper wrote:

"...Peter is teaching that the sovereign will of God governs all the distresses that happen to us and, therefore the design in them is not ultimately the design of evil men or the design of Satan (which are real enough!), but is a design of God. "

It does not make one's suffering any less painful, but there is comfort in knowing our distresses will not end in meaninglessness. In times like this, I remember Scott Wesley Brown's song, "He Will Carry You":

if He carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders,
I know my brother that he will carry you ...
if He carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders,
I know my sister that he will carry you ...