COMMENT | The 15th general election is drawing near, and some people are still completely oblivious to the ongoings of the country.

It's Merdeka Day today and with everything that's been going on in Malaysia - a global pandemic, mental health tragedies that the Malaysian government is handling abysmally, racial violence committed by the police, the rise in unemployment among youths, imprisonment of immigrant children and separating them from their families, the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer - well, it's tempting to be despondent.

But can we really afford to sit on the sidelines and just be bystanders as our country slowly sinks?

The decision is always ours, but with social media and other technological advancements bringing us all together, these issues are...