COMMENT John F Kennedy threw his fellow Americans this soul-searching question in his inaugural speech as president of the USA: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

 

The 35th American president may be long gone, but he has been quoted over and over again, and echoed by Subang Jaya state assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan in her personal memoir, ‘Becoming Hannah’.

 

The bottom line for entering politics for her is all about giving back to the nation. It’s not about what she can get out of the state’s coffers but what she can do “to uphold righteousness and good governance.”

 

Yeoh, in her book, disclosed that her involvement in politics was to contribute to nation building.

 

To her, nothing mattered more than to see righteousness and good governance restored to the nation, at a time when there is so much moronity in Malaysian politics that good people are shunning away from it.

 

Her participation in politics has not always met with positive enthusiasm even amongst her fellow Christians.

During the run up to the campaign in 2008, she had a long conversation with the senior pastor of a church, who discouraged her from entering the political fray.

 

Yet, Yeoh said that she does not blame the senior pastor whom she still considers as one of her “role models and mentors whom I look up to for their passion for preaching and living the Gospel in a holistic way that includes love and action for the country.”

 

Whether in politics or the religious circle, each has a calling and for Yeoh, her calling to enter politics was out of a great concern for the nation’s well-being.

 

After 57 years of independence, if the Malays are still feeling threatened, despite Umno being in power all these years, there is something really wrong about the way Umno has led the nation.

 

Perhaps, cronyism has taken up most part of the pie. Or, nepotism and corruption, leaving behind only the breadcrumbs for the bumiputera in this country.

 

Worse is the state of affairs of the bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak, who are largely still living below the poverty line.

Time for younger generation to step up

It is time for the younger generation of Malays in the likes of Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and Chinese youth like Yeo Bee Yin, to join Yeoh in her party and together strive for the betterment of all Malaysians.

 

It is time for good souls to be ushered into politics in 2015, in order to bring about change in this nation by the 14th general election.

 

Will the young people even heed Yeoh’s exhortation in the book, or will they rather look at their own rice bowls and say, “What is there in politics for me and my family?”

 

Irish statesman Edmund Burke had once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

Urging her fellow OCFers (Overseas Christian Fellowship), Yeoh, who was a student at University of Tasmania, said that “there is much work to be done to rebuild this beautiful nation.”

 

While studying in Australia, she and PKR’s Baru Bian ( right ) of Sarawak were active members of the OCF in Australia.

 

“The message to return home to serve was something the OCF always emphasised,” she said. “It’s why we (Baru Bian and Hannah) have recorded our respective journeys in politics and have launched our books together – we want to encourage fellow OCFers to come home.”

 

New faces wanted

It is a big question now whether the next general election will see more new faces entering the political fray to replace the old guards.

 

Since 2014, the nation has lost some great politicians including the late Karpal Singh. By the next general election, the country may be losing a few more statesmen.

 

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim for example, may be thrown into prison, but the winds of change have to continue blowing across this nation.

The future of Malaysia belongs to the young people who have high aspirations to see the country moving ahead, rather than being trapped in medieval and feudalistic politics, where the elite continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.

 

Yeoh’s book will serve as a source of inspiration for the newcomers in Malaysian politics. Everything fell into place, when she took the first step of faith to offer herself in the 2008 general election.

 

The rest is history.

 

Part 1: Back home for a special calling

 

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.