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>> Comment >> Of Oddballs and Heroic Fights

OF ODDBALLS AND HEROIC FIGHTS

by Ong Kok Bin

The Malaysian election thus far is as interesting as counting the sands in the Sahara Desert. Bereft of any gripping issues or enthralling intrigues, the campaigning has been rather 'ho-hum' and staid. Those who have insomnia will find the election a rather good sedative to douse to sleep. However, once in a good while we do get a crumb of excitement to help us endure the boredom. And so it was rather a 'thunder-bolt-in-the-desert-sun' to read the other day that a certain paramount leader of a religion-based party claiming that it was all right within his religion to character assassinate another person. Now, assuming the story is not a plant, either this leader is living in warped space or he is a bankrupt desperado devoid of any positive ideas.

And then there was this most interesting saga of an 89-year-old grandmother vying as an independent to become a member of parliament. It goes to show that age is no barrier if there is a will. Her one year short of 90 makes the more established old-timers like Samy Vellu look like young babes. This 'feisty grandma' certainly has an iron-will to become a Yang Berhormat. Apparently, this is not her first attempt. But this is the first time she managed to put herself on the ballot. One wonders what drives her at such an age. Is politics really in her blood? Is she out for one last hurrah before the inevitable? Does she have anything concrete to offer to the electorate? Does she have an axe to grind? We can only conjecture as it is she, Maimun Yusuf, who alone knows her real motive and motivation. She is an oddball but she has guts.

There have been many oddballs and loners, 'rebel rousers' and 'misfits', in history, who have dared to go against the tyranny of the majority - the norm in which rules are played. Most of them are truly cranks and eccentrics. They disappear almost as soon as they come onto the scene. But quite a few would leave indelible marks in their aftermath. They would alter the course of history, revolutionise human thought and behaviour, and gain substantial masses to their belief systems that transcend time.

What separates these latter oddballs from the former? What makes them tick? A simplistic answer and most probably a right one too is that all of them passionately believed in what they were doing and had the courage to match their passion despite the odds. In short, they dared to believe and they dared to fight for their beliefs. It is in this particular spirit, that the apostle Paul, knowing his time was up, wrote, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).

Paul was an oddball to many of his contemporaries. But it was him and not them that changed the course of the western world.

Short-Takes
1. Conspiratorial Misrule
2. Redeeming the Time
3. It's an Oily Business
4. Lifting Holy Hands in Prayer
5. A Gracious People
6. Words, Words and Words
7. I Know Whom I Have Believed
8. Of Oddballs and Heroic Fights
9. The People Delivered a Tsunami
10. Joy in Troubled Times

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