This will remain a memorable Merdeka. Together with my daughter, wife, sisters and friends we made it to Bersih 4 and walked with many Malaysians concerned about the situation the nation was facing and determined that we will do our bit to make a difference.

To have been in the midst of thousands of Malaysians of all races keen on reclaiming our nation’s freedom and liberty and standing up for clean elections, clean government, improving economic conditions and the right to dissent will be abiding in one’s memory for years to come.

Young and old, rich, poor and inter-generational all intermingled together for a cause that was big enough and an occasion our children will remember for the future. Our parents and grandparents fought for the cause of Merdeka and year after year we have celebrated this occasion. What we did in Bersih4 informs our children that they, too, will have to stand up to protect their rights.

This year’s 58th Merdeka celebrations had a people’s content that made it so refreshing and meaningful. It was more than a marchpast and a top-down expression. The people’s response was key and critical. Merdeka gave us self-government. The colonial government handed over power five decades and more ago and the rest is history.

Yet today’s government in 2015 has to realise that the freedom we secured 58 years ago has been trampled upon. The balance between liberty and authority has to be maintained and when a people become less vigilant, then those in authority misuse their power and curtail liberties that society enjoys. For decades we have had a government that enjoyed a two-thirds majority and so it was easy for them to take the electorate for granted.

Merdeka is not merely the replacement of one government by another. Merdeka is about liberty in essence and the right of people to ensure that the necessary checks and balances required for a working democracy are maintained and sustained. This is something that is not peculiar only to Malaysia. Despite annual celebrations, our society has been trampled upon until the ruling government lost its two-thirds majority.

We have seen people rise up in many countries asking for accountability, fairness and justice. Over two days I would estimate that over 300,000 Malaysians came out and made their presence felt. Believe me, this was not about race. Every segment of Malaysian society was represented and the occasion was held in other parts of the peninsular and in east Malaysia, not to mention similar protests in several countries.

Any political leadership that ignores this reality will be naïve and out of touch with the sentiments on the ground. Citizens responded out of their own volition. Sadly, basic political acumen seems missing from the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Some damage-limiting initiatives could have been taken.

Having been in power for too long they have developed an autocratic culture that blinds them from perceiving any political advantage they could have been gained by participating and endorsing Bersih 4. After all, the four demands were not threatening and there was no need for BN to be on the defensive. Yet, they could only take a defensive posture that is going to cost them greatly in the months to come.

While Umno with its money and power may be able to get some seats at the next elections, the possibilities for the remaining members of the coalition even surviving the next elections are at best slim. Merdeka today is not only about celebrating 58 years of Independence. It is also about greater freedoms that give meaning to our Democracy that citizens are proud about. However, when authoritarianism is in vogue then liberties are trampled.

A good example is the gazette notification that it is illegal to use the letters ‘Bersih 4’, to wear the T-shirts and to have in one’s possession publications relating to Bersih. This last-minute notification was an exercise in power that only aggravated participants who came from so many places to act in a defiant manner.

So many wore the T-shirts and stood up against such violation of personal liberties. Such an exercise of power only belittles the home minister and revealed his lack of political acumen.

Merdeka is about our liberties

Our parents and grandparents secured independence from colonial masters not to have them replaced by another group of leaders who divide and rule, control us and deny us our democratic rights. Merdeka today is about our liberties and every generation will have to reclaim this for themselves. It is therefore only relevant for people to exert their influence in a non-violent manner and lose their fear of both power, control and authority.

Just look at the state of democratic practices in our country after 58 years of Independence. In his book ‘We the people’, Indian legal luminary the late NA Palkhivala credits the book “to his countrymen who gave unto themselves the constitution but not the ability to keep it, who inherited a resplendent heritage but not the wisdom to cherish it, who suffer and endure in patience without the perception of their potential”.

This is also so very true for Malaysians and initiatives like Bersih provide us with an opportunity to make a difference.

In the context of India, he further says “We suffer from a fatty degeneration of conscience, a malady not only persistent but prone to aggravation. The lifestyle of too many politicians and businessmen bear eloquent testimony to the truth of the dictum that single-minded pursuit of money impoverishes the mind, shrivels the imagination and desiccates the heart.

“The tricolour fluttering all over the country is black red and scarlet - black money, red tape and scarlet corruption”.

Alas after 58 years of Merdeka what do have to claim for our democracy? The same black money, red tape and corruption coupled with institutions that do not work. It is no longer at the level of millions of ringgit but billions. Critical elements pertaining to democratic governance are weakened or paralysed. Institutions have no independence, the sheer absence of checks and balances are all dwarfed by a strong and autocratic executive.

Bersih is a response to this lack and the call is clear and definite. Malaysians must claim Merdeka from the present ruling elite so that next year we can speak about substance rather than form. Thomas Jefferson one of the Founders of the United States remarked, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be”.

“When a nation comes to birth, it is the leaders who produce the institutions. Later, it is the institutions which produce the leaders. The question - where are the leaders of tomorrow? - can only be answered by the other question - where are the nation-building institutions which can produce the leaders of tomorrow.”

We must reclaim our institutions and provide them with independence if our democracy is to work. This goes for the Election Commission, the Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission, the Attorney General’s Office, the Judiciary and an effective and independent legislature.

At moments like this when character and ethics are being ignored, when trust deficit is at its lowest, loyalty demands dissent for otherwise it is difficult to speak truth to power. This is in the best tradition of democratic engagement.

Umno as a party has to face reality and deal with the enormous challenges facing it at this moment in history. Is the president bigger than the party, its goals and purpose or can he continue to subvert the intrinsic credibility that has inspired many to join it?

Leaders who subvert democratic practices and are corrupt and when billions of ringgit can be misused then it is time for the ordinary citizen to protest. If a prime minister does not understand this to be intrinsic to democratic practice then he is behaving like as ostrich.

What is happening in Malaysia defines Umno and BN, their stand on integrity and the cause that binds them together. Is this purely based on money, patronage and race or is there something more that 1Malaysia offers?