The recent judgments of some judges in favour of justice has given me hope that this nation has within its boundaries, men and women who are willing to stand up for what is right and not subscribe to the ideology that our government is a juggernaut whose structure must be preserved by any means necessary.

Though I have tremendous respect for men like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela who devoted their lives for the cause of justice and freedom, it is easier to do so when you have millions of followers and nations of the world fighting for the cause by your side. It is easier to do so when you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. It is easier to do so when the streets are filled with the fury of the hungry and the longings of the poor.

But for the men and women of Malaysia, like Anwar Ibrahim, Zainur Zakaria, Karpal Singh, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor and so many others who have heeded the call for justice, my respect and admiration is far greater. For they stand amongst numbers so much smaller, battling in the streets where prosperity is evident and people are willing to cling on to 'order' at the expense of justice. They fight on with so much to lose and they fight for you and I, who are only willing to remain spectators and praise them in whispers within the confines of our homes.

In response to their battle, the government calls them troublemakers and advocates of violence and spoilers of peace.

But as Martin Luther King once wrote of the society in which he battled, "who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice", we are guilty of the same.

But today, through these people's efforts, there is an unstoppable spirit of contagious conscience that is rising and is evident in the recent decisions by the courts.

Today, I am seeing an evolution of our society through the refusal of selected people to silence their conscience, the refusal of these people to "profit the whole world at the expense of their soul".

To all these men and women, I say, thank you.