Open letter to the people of Teluk Intan

 

 To the good people of Teluk  Intan,

 

 It has been an exhausting but exhilarating two weeks since I was nominated by my party to be the candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election.  I have experienced more in the last two weeks than any time in my 27 years of age. 
Suddenly, I became the centre of attention of Umno ministers, who could not resist taking digs at my looks.

(Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister) Abdul Rahman Dahlan asked voters not to support me just because I put on "lipstick".

(Home Minister) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi remarked that I am "not so pretty in person".

Ahmad Maslan (Member of Parliament for Pontian, Johor) stressed that even his wife, or Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's, would win if it were a beauty contest.

My looks and appearance are not important at all in this very important by-election. I did not sign up with DAP to take part in beauty pageants.

I urge the voters of Teluk Intan to judge me for my ideals, my principles and my dreams for a better Malaysia.

I want to win this election not because of my appearance, but because of my ability to make a difference in the Malaysian political landscape in the highest legislative institution of the country.

My opponents have attacked me viciously behind nameless blogs aligned to Barisan Nasional (BN), as well as anonymous leaflets denigrating me with fake pictures and spurious allegations of my moral ethics.

Traitor charge still hurts

During the visits to some evening markets, there were Umno bullies who heckled, disrupted and attempted to block the campaign trail.

There were even ministers who insinuated that I did not have a law degree or am not a qualified lawyer. The fact that I have proven that I had been called to the Malaysian Bar in 2011 was clearly irrelevant to BN, which is obviously desperate to win, by hook or by crook.

The most vicious of the attacks came from a former minister who accused me of being a "traitor" to the Malay race.

It clearly does not matter to these people that the real traitors to the race are the BN leaders who abused their powers, enriched their friends and families and indulge in corruption at the expense of ordinary Malays and Malaysians.

These dirty and vicious tactics from our opponents will not waver my will to fight for the rights of all Malaysians, especially for those who are marginalised and discriminated against.

I will not be intimidated and I will not be a traitor to Malaysians.

While Umno leaders labelled me a "traitor" to Malays, Gerakan leaders attacked me relentlessly of being a closet Malay extremist for my alleged links to right-wing Perkasa.

The BN is persisting with its tried and tested divide-and-rule approach, in which it gives different messages to the different races.

Let me make myself very clear. While I was asked by my mother to assist with administrative tasks such as registration of attendees and pinning of corsages on VIPs during the inception of Perkasa when I was still a student more than five years ago, I was never involved in Perkasa's activities and never have I been a member.

Even my mother distanced herself from Perkasa and became inactive once she found herself in disagreement with its activities and principles.

What led to DAP platform

On the contrary, my upbringing in an Umno family and seeing first hand how Perkasa functions convinced me that DAP has the best platform and ideals to pursue a more democratic, just and a economically prosperous Malaysia.

I am convinced Malaysia is broken after 57 years of racial politics through divide-and-rule by the BN. I am saddened to see how BN leaders and their proxies like Perkasa incite the various races to fight one another, instead of fighting for one another.

I want to prove to Malaysians that you don't have to be a Chinese to help a Chinese, a Malay to help a Malay, and an Indian to help an Indian.

I want to lead by example to build a country where a Malay can help a Chinese, a Chinese can assist an Indian and an Indian can support a Malay.

My ambition is to Malaysianise Malaysia again.

I wish to express my immense appreciation and gratitude for the love and kindness bestowed upon me by the good people of Teluk Intan.

The warmest welcome and affection from of all races - Malays, Indians and Chinese - have only reaffirmed my belief in this country and to strengthen my resolve to stand up for Malaysia.

With the support of the voters ofTeluk Intan, I look forward to fulfilling my promise to move to and live in this beautiful and historic town.

I promise to serve the people with commitment and dedication, and to make sure that the Teluk Intan "roar" rocks the Malaysian Parliament.

---

DYANA SOFYA MOHD DAUD is the DAP candidate for Teluk Intan.

 A emotional,passionate and sincere plea from a young Malaysian for a united and peaceful Malaysia for Malaysians.Hope the people of Teluk Intan go out in full force tomorrow to vote Dyana.She may be young and inexperienced but represents the hopes of all Malaysians for a better nation.Wish her a landslide victory that will send a clear signal to Umno-Bn to change or be changed at the 14GE

A story of elderly love

Never take love for granted

A very poor man lived with his wife.
One day, his wife, who had very long hair asked him to buy her a comb for her hair to grow well and to be well-groomed.
The man felt very sorry and said no. He explained that he did not even have enough money to fix the strap of his watch he had just broken.
She did not insist on her request.
The man went to work and passed by a watch shop, sold his damaged watch at a low price and went to buy a comb for his wife.
He came home in the evening with the comb in his hand ready to give to his wife.
He was surprised when he saw his wife with a very short hair cut.
She had sold her hair and was holding a new watch band.
Tears flowed simultaneously from their eyes, not for the futility of their actions, but for the reciprocity of their love.

MORAL:
To love is nothing, to be loved is something
But to love and to be loved by the one you love, that is EVERYTHING.
Never take love for granted.

Reflections

As couples grow old, a lot of changes take place in their physical and mental status. They tend to become easily irritated and angry with the spouse for trivial reasons often not realizing they were reacting in that way.

As they reach their sixties and seventies or if they are lucky may be eighties, their fights or quarrels are not because of money, power or beauty but because of their physical and mental inadequacies. Physical inadequacies include lack of energy, sickness, disappointments especially with their children and failures in life. They feel young but unable to do what they used to do when they were young. This makes them irritable and angry more with themselves than with their spouses.

Mental inadequacies include loss of memory, forgetfulness, talking inappropriately and repeating same things over and over again. Another important factor is loss in independence, not being able to do what they want for themselves.

All these create a lot of friction and irritation to the couples, especially if one is much younger than the other. The strange thing is despite the frequent fights and quarrels, the love for each other remains strong as one cannot be without the other for too long.

The lesson for us from this story is never to take each other’s love for granted especially as we grow old and sickly. Children come and go, siblings come and go, grandchildren come and go, relatives and friends come go but the spouse remain till the end often only death brings them apart. 

 

There may be so many ways to overcome the differences and feeling of anger towards the spouse when they are old but the best is what I call “Hug Therapy”. A hug is all that may be needed to cool things down. Yes, a hug helps to cure all the problems, it softens your heart and cools your anger. Try it the next time you get irritated and angry with your spouse and you may be surprised with what it can do.