I was listening to Roger Waters’ “Tide Is Turning”, one of my all-time favourite songs, on the morning of March 9, the day I woke up to a changed Malaysia.
I used to think the world was flat, the song says. “Rarely threw my hat into the crowd.” It goes on, “I felt I had used up my quota of yearning.”
It culminates into a powerful finale, with a haunting choir in the background, singing repeatedly “the tide is turning.” [Click on the YouTube clip to listen to the song]
An enormous tide, some say a political tsunami, had indeed swept across the country on that fateful night. The opposition was victorious in five states — six if the Federal Territory had a state legislative assembly of its own — and the ruling coalition had lost its two-third majority.
Anyone who had not felt the sensation of the tide sweeping must have had a heart made of stone.
Now, eight months after the election, I can feel the tide is gathering strength, again. It looks like the tide is turning back and this time it is the opposition that had better watch out or risk being swept away.
