Can Obama really save us?

I find it interesting that there are many calls recently on my timeline asking the President of the United States (Potus) to solve issues plaguing Malaysia.

I do not deny that US President Barack Obama has done many great things and indeed have the capability to do great things as the leader of the free world.

As a great leader, power neither comes easy nor without its price.

After all, Ollivander once remarked that Lord Voldemort has accomplished many great things, too. Yet being Lord Voldemort, the great magic he conducted had terrible consequences.

What I find disappointing however, is our hero worship and the need for someone, somewhere to just solve all of our problems for us.

We got excited that Obama played golf with Najib Razak and choose to visit Kuala Lumpur, not once, but twice including this month’s scheduled visit. This is a feat in itself.

After all, Obama’s April 2014 visit was the first Potus official visit to Malaysia in nearly 50 years.

The townhall meeting that Obama held during his first visit saw many Malaysian civil society and youth leaders present.

Indeed, he focused this meeting on our abysmal human rights records and urged youths to take the lead in upholding the rights of minority groups and the rule of law.

One year on, I am afraid that we have outdone ourselves in keeping up with our abysmal human rights’ records.

From the mass graves uncovered in Perlis to turning our backs on the Rohingyas, other stateless migrants, and our very own Orang Asli, to arresting activists for being activists; Malaysia’s human rights records has indeed deteriorated.

Further, the recent ruling persecuting our transgender community not only desecrated our own Federal Constitution, but also likely will result in increasing violence on a section of our own society.

While all of these is happening, we also saw an increasingly frustrating scandal involving billions of our ringgit amidst a struggling economy and an overall depressing feeling that things will keep looking bleak financially.

Not to forget, we signed a free-trade agreement with terms and conditions discussed in a blanket of secrecy.

And here we are calling for Obama to magically wave all of our troubles away.

What have become of us, Malaysians?

I do not discount the amount of activism, people power and sacrifice that many have done for the country. But, isn’t it past time already for us to save ourselves instead of hoping on a savior, and a foreign one at that?

Online petitions and rallies are merely a collective outcry. As I found out to my own detriment, online petitions do not translate to immediate solution.

It serves its purpose to show that many people care about an issue, or not.

The “change” we all sought comes from hard work in diplomacy, many meetings and engagement, with the right people in power.

To some extend, one needs to take the lead. Many times, these changes take a very long time to materialise.

Facebook ‘likes’ neither equal to votes nor having people on one’s side.

All of us, unfortunately, can only continue the long and arduous process of educating the masses on current issues and to get everyone to be empowered on our rights.

There is no magic incantation to solve our problems. Instead, we have to toil and labour towards achieving a solution.

Further, we deserve the leaders we appoint to power. If we are happy to practice corruption in our everyday lives and to conduct our daily errands in secrecy and propaganda; then we deserve what we currently have.

We need to reform our practices to pressure for transparency and good governance instead if we want to see the change we all so desire.

As I near the end of my YSEALI fellowship, I understand now why the Obama Administration initiated this programme.

This is no American interference; it is a firsthand experience to the hard work by the American civil society in always pushing for change.

If a policy does more harm than good, then we have to return to the drawing board. If it is showing promise, then we must sustain it and improve on it.

It is a daily struggle, and the US is not without weaknesses and mistakes, sustained by the efforts of many who keep pushing for the better.

Malaysians have done it before. We gained our independence; we built the country as it is today.

We need to keep at it, sustain the positive domino effect and influence many more Malaysians to truly care and put our efforts towards fixing what we know is wrong with the country.

We must be ready to accept that we might not be alive to see it. Nonetheless, we owe it to the next generation to begin right now.

Obama cannot save Malaysia; only Malaysians can do that. – November 4, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.