Marina Mahathir Reflects On Her Experience During GE14 In Inspiring Social Media Post
"Malaysians got to know one another like never before."
By Tamara Jayne — 16 May 2018, 05:09 PM
The nation's recent election on 9 May will forever be etched in our history books as a day to remember
For one person in particular, the elections brought about renewed hope of a better future.
In a recent Facebook post, Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's daughter, Marina Mahathir, shared her personal journey through GE14 as well as her thoughts on the entire experience
She started off her GE14 journey by helping to raise funds for former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin's campaign. Although many were skeptical of Maria Chin contesting as an independent candidate (she later joined Pakatan Harapan), people still came out to help, she shared.
Marina added, "Some ran the office, some did outreach, some became PACAs (polling and counting agents), and some did her communications work."
She continued by saying that there was an "amazing buzz" in the air as people worked to make sure everything went smoothly.
Through the entire campaign, Marina wrote that the best part of all was seeing all kinds of people showing up to help, whether they were "young or old, every bangsa and agama turned up to help in whatever way they could."
She added that even when they put out calls for PACAs, an influx of people stepped up to volunteer. So many had come out that they were even able to outsource them to other candidates as well.
"... there was an amazing camaraderie among us all which made the whole thing fun," Marina wrote.
What began as something small, snowballed into something greater as Marina ended up speaking at various ceramahs around Malaysia
"Besides Penang, I went to Johor, Klang, Pahang and KL, mostly speaking at smallish ceramahs for some young new candidates," she said.
"I spoke from everything - from very fancy stages to the backs of trucks and at one point, on a metal stage just as thunder and lightning started to flash!"
Everywhere she went, she noticed that there was a warm and enthusiastic ambience. "I met all sorts of people, all dying for change to happen," she said while adding that she never went to bed before 1am and was up early the next day to do it all over again.
"I did 15 speeches in 10 days and it almost knocked me out. And I wasn't even a candidate - they must have done triple or quadruple what I did," she wrote.
She continued by saying that even if Pakatan had lost this round, the entire campaign had brought long-term effects such as more harmony amongst the people
"Malaysians got to know one another like never before in common cause. I think the whole #pulangmengundi movement was amazing. Malaysians pulling for one another defending their right to vote, REGARDLESS of who they were going to vote for," she wrote.
She was also touched to hear stories of Malaysians overseas who helped their fellow countrymen carry their ballots back home for them
This Malaysian pilot helped a voter carry home her ballot paper.
Image via Kristina Mariswamy/FacebookThere were even Malaysians who had travelled back home from Tokyo, London, Houston, Sydney, and Melbourne just to vote, she continued.
"I also heard about one woman who couldn't vote but volunteered to sign off on other people's overseas ballots if they couldn't find any Malaysians to witness theirs. Such wonderful generosity," she noted.
She shared that people even wrote to her saying how they felt that their faith had been renewed in their country and that they wanted to contribute to make Malaysia a place to be proud of again
"But we already have plenty to be proud of," she continued. "We were so united in wanting to save our country that we forgot all the other petty differences we might have. We did it with patience, perseverance and with so much joy. We refused to be cowed by anything, we overcame every obstacle thrown our way," she mused.
She ended her post by thanking Malaysians for joining together on this epic journey.
"Everywhere I go, people seem to be smiling at each other more, especially when they see that darkened left index finger. And those smiles alone are worth it," she added.
"We now have a lot of work to do to rebuild our beloved Malaysia and make and sustain the change we want. But after seeing the way we all worked together before and during the campaign, I have no doubt that we can do it."