“In the depths of winter, is the promise of spring” - perhaps , not the exact words but I recall this saying meant to encourage a weary soul as he/she struggles with adversity. As I survey our country's political landscape, and my heart grows weary with despair, I try to stir up optimism from within.

This year had seen two momentous world events that many an analyst had dismissed as unlikely before they became facts of history - Brexit and Donald Trump as the next president of the USA.

In our country, the grip on power by Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) seems unshakeable and all the more fearful. The misuse of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) on political dissent has come to pass, as had been predicted by opponents of that law from the beginning.

Rafizi Ramli and Tony Pua have been jailed (though with their appeals pending, they have not lost their seats). Lim Guang Eng already has a cell in Sungai Buloh reserved for him. We have Azmin Ali, Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin and god knows who else among the opposition ranks who still believe PAS still has the agenda of change on its political vision.

The peninsula-based opposition in Sabah and Sarawak have seen their ranks decimated by state-based royalties and a resentment of a Big Brother central control from the peninsula .

Yes, I agree if I am accused of being a pessimist. The fact is when everything should be falling in place for change to take place in our country - change towards fairer, more just, civil and democratic society - we see that prospect getting further and further away.

The heady days post-the political tsunami of 2008 are no more, they are now only a distant memory. There is no united opposition and in all likelihood when GE14 is called, it will be a free-for-all, and I fear BN will sneak in with a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

And so, as I speak out my gloomy forebodings, in a corner of my heart, I revert to that promise of spring. I know it is not all missteps by the opposition in our country. There are some wisps of change in the air.

Amanah has that promise of the face of Islam that the late Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat portrayed to the non-Muslim rakyat that endeared him so much to us. Yet, it remains to be seen if the hardcore and extremists stand of the current PAS leadership will hold sway over their core of loyal rural voters or the more humane face of Amanah will be given a chance come GE14.

There has come on to the national political scene young student activists who holds out the hope that the brainwashing and climate of fear allegedly inculcated by the Umnoputras have not been totally successful. The Adams and Anises of our youth show that all is not lost; that there are those among the younger generation who can see what a slippery and dangerous slope the Umnoputras are currently taking us.

Bersih5 may not rival its other versions in terms of numbers yet its current version has an extensive reach which I believe is very important. The rakyat in the rural hinterlands have been exposed to Bersih and I believe all of us are aware that it will be rakyat there who will tip the scale over critical mass to the agenda of change.

The unjust detention of Maria Chin Abdullah under Sosma appeared to have touched a raw nerve among the rakyat. It mattered not whether only 60 000 (the high end of estimates) rakyat walked with Bersih 5, the important thing is that the climate of fear the Umnoputras so desperately wants to inculcate has been a failure.

The support shown in the candlelight vigils across the country against the detention of Maria Chin must have caught even the ‘twitter king’ on a wrong footing.

Perhaps to the Umnoputras, I am clutching at straws - by all accounts , their hold on power looks invincible. Yet looking at how Brexit and Trump’s election victory played out, I dare believe a new spring may yet not be an impossibility.