I used to write online quite often. It became a little bit awkward after The Malaysian Insider imploded on itself. Writing on Malaysiakini, though having a wider audience, tended to cater to a group of peculiar trolls, the so-called armchair intellectuals and political professors of the 800Kbps internet. Nevertheless, I really do miss speaking to a wider group of people and actually being able to relate to happenings back home.

At this point in my life, six years after leaving home, I have lost almost all of my Malaysian-ness, home seems to be but a distant memory, but the interest in stories, experiences, life in general is well alive. You are not really a troll; I am deeply fond of you.

I will write this as a series of essays, probably rants post-the American general election. I was in fact going to attempt to explore Brexit in a few letters. Though they are complete, I decided not to publish them online. I felt it was too early to forecast and openly discuss the growing changes that we have been working on in the west. After experiencing the most significant political event in the western world, I’d perhaps like to try to possibly present a different view on matters.

When Donald Trump announced that he was running, I put a £100 bet on him. To me it was obvious that he was going to win. The only obstacles were Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, the Republican Party and Bernie Sanders. We will discuss this at a later date. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is a dinosaur, a phantom remnant of the past, being resurrected by her greater masters to seek the office of the presidency for purely self-indulgent reasons.

Many have called this election a farce, a disappointment, but let me assure you it isn’t. There are several undertones that span throughout the past year. This election was the most important, if not the crescendo, to the shock events of Brexit. Brexit shook the UK to its core. Most Malaysians may not appreciate the magnitude of the Brexit win for people like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.

Most importantly, both events are a victory for a very disillusioned section of western society - those who have been beaten down, walked over and pushed to aside. By golly, did they rise en-masse for hope and for change!

As someone who grew up in a country which deprived its people of democracy, any election period in the west is literally Christmas for me. It was a long, nasty and ground-breaking campaign, but it was essential in breaking several barriers and social taboos.

Forget about Clinton’s already broken feminist glass ceiling, as the west has moved on from the challenges of accepting equal rights for women. I see society here as one that is very equal between the genders. This is nowhere near the cause of her defeat. The misogynistic class did not cause her downfall, neither did the closet racists.

Instead the people decided to break several long developing glass walls. These were political correctness, silent conservatism, the mainstream media, pseudo-intellectualism and the regressive left-wing. These walls have kept a great proportion of western society sealed off, only to be poked and laughed at from the outside.

So who is on the outside and who is on the inside? Two very opposite groups of society. The ones outside are the so-called ‘Progressive left’, those that now riot in Portland, unmasking themselves as left-wing fascists. These are young and old people generally affiliating with the Democratic Party, supportive of progressive globalist ideals that have gone immensely wrong.

Those on the inside are more traditional and conservative people. Those who may not have the same ideals but place greater emphasis on personal identity and nationalism. Both have been labelled almost everything by the other party. This is not something unique to the US, but has been long brewing throughout the west.

As Hilary Benn said in the UK parliament in his historic speech, “The thing we know about fascists, is that they have to be defeated.” We may think that one has been elected and speed tracked into office, but truly this man is benign compared to the other candidate. We have all seen how rotten politics and government can become with bad leadership and corruption. This is rife in our own country.

Clinton would have destroyed the west, destroyed the current generation and destroyed the ideals that have made this part of the world so great. The election of Trump has inversely derailed the entire left-wing culture that has so carefully been nurtured throughout the years after World War II. People are simply tired of immigration, the loss of economic and social opportunities and the erosion of their own identities.

One may compare this to the majority Malays in Malaysia, but unlike them the Malays are privileged outright by the rule of law. The same values that built the American Dream post-Vietnam was hijacked by those who won the cultural and economic race in the country. The political and cultural elite dictated the progress and direction of the country for decades, while those who did not conform became isolated and marginalised.

The Democrats lost the elections because they destroyed the social fabric of the country in the name of liberal and progressive views. Surely social progress is important? Yes, I whole heartedly support abortion laws, gay rights, gender equality and tolerance, but not at the expense of alienating its own people. This is what the Democrats have done for the past eight years and beyond.

The wheel has turned once more

The left, once anti-establishment and progressive has now become pro-establishment and regressive. The wheel has turned once more in the west, and it can only be a period of renewal.

Clinton’s campaign attracted endorsements from the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga while Trump gathered support from the Border agency, the National Rifle Association and senior Republican officials. The Democrats killed Sanders’ presidential career to favour Clinton while Trump fought tooth and nail against his own party to represent the common man. Clinton was openly favoured by the mainstream media and numerous donors while Trump relied on volunteers, small donations from supporters, his own money and the alternative media.

This was no mere vote between a woman and a man, or democrats against republicans. This was a choice between carrying on with the current system or attempting to drop a bomb on it. Clinton, though garnered a small majority of popular votes lost devastatingly to Trump who beat her in 30 states, in the majority of key battleground areas.

This is not the revolution that celebrity hacks in Hollywood are raving about on Twitter. This is a revolution by decent hardworking people who have felt very left out, scared and pressured. This started in the UK general elections, the EU referendum, and now the American Presidential Elections. We expect to see this continue to happen with Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen in France.

Clinton failed to garner support for a post-Barack Obama administration. She lost key Hispanic, black and women votes, a paradox to what was expected. Trump, the unlikely underdog has become the most powerful man on earth. This the beauty of democracy, this is the beauty of choice and will.

People felt marginalised due to numerous reasons, a key mix in this was the loss of jobs, poverty, rising costs of living, the arrival of Islam in the west, a perceived weakening of the country and the imminent loss of the American identity and aspiration. These cannot be discussed in one letter, the intricacies of this are complex, I may not be the best person to explain these.

The theme of chaos

However, the theme of chaos is recurrent. ‘Ordo Ab Chao’ is a key phrase in current politics, it means ‘Order out of Chaos’, or to deliver out of disorganisation. We should not confuse immigration and racism; this would be a toxic mix. Sure there was highly inflammatory rhetoric coming from both sides, the more notable of these came from Trump. However, we must also consider the rationale of such statements.

Populism is beneficial but there is deeper anger and resentment among people that lead to these statements. I personally have never encountered racism in the west, not even in the most deprived and backwards areas. People have a baseline level of open mindedness that Malaysians should aspire to. Even the common man understands that working class resentment against foreigners came from the establishment.

The idea of inducing a clash cultures, that of local peoples and of immigrants is what fuelled the disdain from struggling Americans. Yes, the US is a nation of immigrants and has prized its ability to bring together cultures, but what we see in the wider scope of the west is a growing loss of tolerance. This is not something that we must fear, instead we should seek to understand. The complexities of this will be discussed perhaps one day in the future.

In essence the people have rejected left wing tactics of disrupting society only to remake them in harsher conditions to remain in power.

The white working class is not the antagonist. These people are not some kind of crazy bogeyman as displayed in the media. One thing I’ve learnt is to never trust the mainstream media ever again. I see most of these people almost on a daily basis. To me, they may sometimes be misguided, but surely almost always they are very much human just like me and you, with different ideas, thoughts and feelings.

We cannot push them aside, for they have suffered quite a lot already. Working with very vulnerable people in very deprived places, these people bear almost no evil towards us. Sure, there is initial mistrust, I am of a different colour and I speak differently, sure, but this doesn't justify a quick label of being a racist.

The overuse of labels such as racist, xenophobe, misogynist and chauvinist have become baseless. Westerners who so simply use these labels, clearly have no idea what they mean. They dont know what racism is as they have never experienced it. The trauma of past imperialism has left this culture so hypersensitive to these terms. This election aimed to break this self-bondage.

Affiliating Trump to the KKK and islamaphobia is utterly untrue. The former has been discredited numerous times during the campaign while the latter is actually not an irrational fear. Islam and the west is heading for a roller coaster ride, and this prompts some reflection on ourselves as Malaysians.

What surprises me is how fickle and feeble young people in the west have become. Current life post-war, with intact freedoms and privileges has made the current generation very frail. If it is rational to flee and emigrate at the occurrence of an unfavourable election, then the west is so clearly doomed.

I would like to think that Malaysians are far more stoic in their ideals, though brain drain and emigration is at an all-time high. We have our own problems, but for a first world country, its young people seem to have lost their identities and grounding. Perhaps such is the erosive properties of globalism.

Life in the west is a privilege. I have even heard people describing being born British as winning the ‘Lottery of life’. This is humorous rhetoric but I can understand and relate to this. Life here comes with privileges so freely given to its people, but by burning the state flag, this precious right is so easily broken.

Sure not all things are right here, but the US and the UK are places of great renaissance, like Stonewall and flower power, a different group of people are creating a movement. Though there will be friction, heat and probably fires, in the greater scheme of things this is not a bad thing. Sure some uncomfortable topics will come up, but this is elementary when examining the history of western civilisations. That which waxes, will wane and rewax even greater.

A good friend of mine who lived in the US said this about the results: “I believe with how far America has come and with that diversity of people in the country, this election results will continue to drive the people to be greater activists of the true American values that makes it such a great place”.

Diversity works both ways

Diversity works both ways, not just by importing Syrian refugees and issuing lottery visas, but also from within. Diversity also includes ideological and religious differences, differences in how people do things and differences in how people vote. Regardless, the single most intrinsic property is for people to come together and foster a peaceful life and celebrate where that diversity comes from. Globalisation derails this and has to be defeated, even in Malaysia.

If we look close enough, society is changing. I don’t advocate our current conservative views at all. Most of it is utterly rubbish, only seeking to offer protectionist benefits to a group of wealthy ruling oligarchs. Whether Malaysian peoples are progressing or regressing is worth personal thought and examination. Regardless, a dose of optimism may be helpful for our country.

Forget the Malaysian establishment, if we can’t even relate and attempt to understand each other, without having tendencies of mistrust and bigotry, we will go nowhere. Our progress will not take us anywhere except for another century of pseudo-colonial divide and conquer nonsense. I believe the government knows this, and I believe they are aware that they must also grow with the people as times are changing.

People were worried about the effect of the Arab Spring on Malaysia a few years back, the puppet masters need not worry of a revolt in Malaysia. Western ideals have been antagonised for decades now that Malaysians would be numb to anything marginally good that comes out from this part of the world. Optimism, my dear Watson, not the white witches’ personal coca stash!

Not enough paragraphs can sum up what I have learnt from this election. Most of it was good, some not very good. I was shocked by the degree of corruption in the US government and its political parties. I was shocked at the third-world tactics employed by the democrats against the republicans - sexual allegations, leaked video tapes, etc.

I was also very uneasy about the “ban Muslims” rhetoric from Trump. Yes, Islam and the west are not compatible, but that is a wholly different matter. But the almost Hitler-esque rhetoric of profiling people and halting their movement will cause great harm and bad feeling among people.

This I think will not come into reality. Election promises are like midnight moths, they're most furious at the darkest of nights with the brightest of bulbs, but in the morning most of them die. Very few remain, and those who survive are eventually forgotten. We will see what the future holds, but I think an opportunity to lead would be healthy for the president elect and the rest of the world.

Don’t buy into the labels, don’t buy into the mainstream media. Both are highly dangerous. One thing Brexit and Trump have done is to break media control and lift the fog of pre-organised people-feeding information. Frankly, if we look at the US from a wide angle lens, a highly conservative country has actually elected quite a liberal leaning atheist to office. People are just disturbed by nationalism; they may need to get over this.

I’m not threatened, and neither should you be. In fact, I’d like to visit Trump’s US quite soon, and I have no problems being searched for bombs because I'm brown! (I laughed as I wrote this).

I have learnt so much about the US, their culture, their ideals and beliefs, their ability to strive and fight for what they think is right, their passion for their country, their attempts to do the right things in life. I can only aspire that one day, say 500 years into the future, someone may look up to us sometime? Without all the nonsensical conspiracy theories and new world order bullshit that is.

Till I speak to you again.