This piece was not the easiest to write. I cannot fully articulate how difficult it is to spend your entire life in a place, only to be told you do not belong. I find it unsettling to have grown up and given to this country (my parents before me, their parents before them, our great grandparents - both mine and theirs), only to be told this is not home.

These past couple of years, Malaysia has not felt like home. Not quite. The venality, corruption, and sheer folly with human lives have been disheartening to witness. It seemed easy enough to be inure and conclude that nothing has changed. Yet, to do so would be to deny our hard-won progress and rob us of our responsibility to do what we can to make Malaysia better.

Democracy is not an institution. It is not founded by an organisation nor can it be decimated because of an organisation.

Democracy is not a monolith. It is not obstinate, inflexible, or immovable. It is alive, progressive, and evolving. It is a work-in-progress.

Democracy is not to be feared. It was marched for, fought for, and died for. It is about freedom for all and not just one, voice for all and not just few, inclusivity for all and not exclusivity just for some.

Democracy is us. You and I.

We embody it when we regard our neighbours by their name, instead of their race. We live it when we rejoice over a badminton or football game at a mamak establishment, together. We uphold it when we exercise our right to vote for a fair government, who will serve the interests of the people. We protect it when we allow discourse without dissing and conversation about conviction. We celebrate it when we appreciate the beauty of diversity in all the things we love - language, food, people. We choose it when we help a stranger push his ailing car up an incline (it was immortalised when I wrote it as one of the scenes for PETRONAS' National Day webfilm, circa 2016).

So on this day, when words are hard, I will remember this snapshot and caption from 11 Aug 2016: "What freedom truly looks like - diverse in race, creed and culture, but united in spirit."

Happy National Day, Malaysia.

Here’s hoping that some day, you will truly feel like home.