the big three-oh
shoutout to all the 91 kids
It is 2021 and the dredging 30 has come to all of us — the 91 kids. You know, reaching 20 was fine: it is the mark of liberation, independence. But 30? It is the mark of getting old-er and for those whose plans derailed in their 20s, the big three-oh’s is nothing but a scary reminder: What have you done with your life?
Pessimism aside, we need to celebrate and reminisce the three decades we have been through. The events that occur that we read, we experience and we shaped and wrapped our mind around them. However, this is rightly personal, because I will write on those national and global events that I clearly remember and affect my life growing up. Let’s go.
The Sack of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister (1997)
We were 7 that year, but that was the age when I became conscious of politics. The pictures of blue-eyed Anwar Ibrahim literally lived in my mind rent-free. It was when I noticed the colorful flags of political parties, the various political newspapers that my father diligently purchased and what it meant to have a messianic figure came in and fix all our problems.
I will leave this here and come back to this later. History tends to repeat itself, but sadly, within our decades, it is with the same players.
9/11 (2001)
The event is really personal to me because it affected me and my family directly. I remember watching the video of the planes being played over and over by the media. Although it happened at the other side of the world, the impact was so disastrous and even felt not just to the Americans to these day. The US retaliation with War on Terror spiked islamophobia in way it has never been. The invasion in the already destabilized middle east region, the red flags against muslims community all over the world really shaped my perception towards the US as not just the superpower, but also the supervillain of the world.
Then it became personal to me when I knew I was bound to study in the US as an undergraduate. But the one-decade gap between 9/11 and my study in the States was really reflected. The US wasn’t that bad, the policies then were bad, as evidently discovered even to these days.
But there is another impact — economic ones. You see, this event greatly traumatized society to fly and my father was in airlines industry. It was a bad year for my family financially and it persisted until the day of my father’s retirement. The downside to the airlines industry from the 9/11 just unleashed the ticking time bomb Malaysia Airlines was and seemed (judging from my perception towards my father) to never recover.
Bersih Rally 2011
This may leave some of 91 kids conflicted. Not everyone agree that we should bring matters to the street, but protests, demonstration and civil disobedience are a form of democratic tool to keep our government in check, at least I believe that. It was not the first Bersih rally, but it was the first for 91 kids who just went out of secondary schools. Many of us are in the tertiary education and were exposed to the discussion and debate, and some chose to go down to the street and highlight those important issues that otherwise neglected by those who rule. Some of us even commit to the language of the street and went down to the subsequent rallies.
I still remember watching the Bersih Rally in 2011 and debated with my extended family of who was at fault there. The portrayal of the media of those “rebellious" demography being played by some notorious political mastermind was really impressionable to some. As a kid who just got to see the world beyond the school chairs, with a new found capacity to participate, I looked with an aspiration and motivation. The price for change was never cheap.
May 9, 2018
This was a fated night. I remembered I stayed up late waiting for the announcement of the result. It was a landmark moment for me too as a first-time voter. I knew people of my age should have voted twice already, but I was studying overseas in 2013 and the voting centre was quite far from my place of study. I registered, but didn’t turn out.
But 2018 was different — and the results are much more impactful. For the first time ever, Malaysians decided to vote out the incumbent government and replaced it with part-used-to-be government and part-used-to-be opposition. It was euphoric. Malaysians are ready for change.
But all Malaysians knew that things didn’t pan out in the end. Post May 9, things became messier for Malaysians when noises are being amplified. Fear-mongering based on race and religion were rampant and destructive, and for some part obstructive to the commitment and effort to reform. I keep persuading myself that democracy is supposed to be messy. It guarantees right to everyone and protect rights of others. There is a fine line of those things and Malaysia, 60 years out of the same regime, breathe the temporary sweet air only to smell the hint of pungency. Things weren’t the same, that everyone expected — but it doesn’t feel like it’s getting better.
And the tug-of-wars didn’t cease miraculously. The interesting (but sad) thing is, the story of two decades of Tun M-Anwar didn’t come to an amicable ending. Distrust grows and power corrupts. While politicians pander and meander for power, the people struggle and fed up. Going to the streets were out of question due to the pandemic. Malaysians are ready for change, but it turned out some politicians whom we entrusted with, aren’t ready for power.
Economic Recession 1997 and 2008
We were each seven and 18, respectively. And some of us are privileged enough to not experience the impact first hand. I am one of those who didn’t. The Asian financial crisis and the credit crunch were not in my story other than a lesson learned. But the great reminder of these two events make my generation anxiously waiting for the next economic recession. But we were welcomed with hard-hitting, economic-hutting pandemic. Of course, not everyone getting worse during what are relatively bad times. Some of us are getting better or just simply not worse.
2021, onwards!
Of course this common experience may not be common at all and there are some I omitted like the failed Middle Eastern Arab Spring — I just thought I have written enough pessimism for the day. I tried to keep looking on the good things happened that affected 91 kids in the last generation — but it is hard to find. It was rather gradual, like how society democratizes technology. Like how my generation went from phone calls, to text messaging and instant messaging, then fast internet, smartphones and laptops like we have now. We are a generation that lived trough all these advances and it framed our mentality that the world can change. Without looking back introspectively, it is easy to take these things for granted. Then come 2020 that altered our norms of lives extensively.
This compilation of landmark events are what I thought may affect our generation, specifically those in Malaysia. From personal point of view, each and every one of us should have the ups and downs that make us who we are. Looking back, it is hard not to be pessimistic about the future. But our future holds so much potential and it is such a waste to let the pessimism of the past haunts us.
I also acknowledge that to be able to impacted by this kind of national and global event is somewhat a privilege. But that shouldn’t stop us from being aware of these events and learn from them, even if we are not directly impacted by them.
