The Only Way For Meaningful Change Is Through People’s Power

Meet-And-Greet Sessions Are Useless

I’ve recently had my belief firmly cemented that the only way to bring about true change to society and solve all the deep-seated systemic problems is through people’s power.

This essentially means mass mobilization of the average citizens.

I’ve always had this realization and awareness, but only very recently was it actually cemented in my mind and I started to strongly believe in it.

This change happened a few days ago on Thursday, January 4th, when I attended a meet-and-greet session conducted by the state government in my city of Ipoh, Malaysia.

Leaders Aren’t Willing To Make Actual, Meaningful Changes

Now, I have been to several of these meet-and-greet sessions in the past year.

During all those sessions, and especially during this latest one, the thing that struck me was that when it came to actual, significant policy changes and reforms at the deeper, systemic level, the politicians and elected representatives weren’t at all willing to take action and implement such changes.

Even if it meant that the people’s lives, especially the underprivileged and poor, would be significantly improved with those particular changes and reforms.

This is because, most of these politicians benefit from the current political system in terms of power and profits, and are in fact proponents of it.

Therefore, they’re not at all interested in reforming and significantly changing the system.

Essentially, most of these politicians and elected representatives have become morally compromised.

My Efforts Have Produced Very Minimal Results

Over the past year, there have been quite a number of times when I’ve brought up various issues as well as the need for systemic change in the government.

I’ve done this in various ways, including writing articles, submitting feedback and complaints via official government portals, attending these meet-and-greet sessions, and also hand-delivering letters and complaints to the offices of some of these politicians themselves.

Disappointingly, however, in terms of action toward implementing much-needed changes in various government policies, nothing of significance has really taken place.

This is despite the fact that I’ve repeatedly brought up those issues and pressed those politicians, including during those meet-and-greet sessions.

And so, this process has been quite frustrating as well as disappointing, and it just points to the fact that these meet-and-greet sessions are mostly for show.

All Fluff, No Real Substance

They’re mainly intended as external signals to the public that the politicians actually care for and are willing to serve their interests, when in fact, this clearly isn’t the case.

In reality, the politicians are not willing to bring about true, meaningful change when it involves deep systemic issues and actually reforming the system.

When it comes to discussing and putting forth the need for actual systemic changes to the politicians, what mostly happens in these meet-and-greet sessions is that the politicians will thank you for putting forward such good ideas and that they’ll take them into consideration and discuss them in their upcoming meetings.

And those cordial conversations really are the only form of action that’s ever taken. After those conversations conclude, no further action is actually taken.

As a matter of fact, a few days prior to this latest session on January 4th, I wasn’t enthusiastic about attending and I had serious doubts as to whether it was even worth it to go through that process again.

A Different, More Radical Approach Is Required

At that point, I already become disillusioned and jaded at the fact that despite going many times and bringing up the same issues repeatedly, no real action was taken.

This revealed the clear lack of commitment and priority given by the politicians toward implementing systemic reforms.

Also, after a point, it can be physically and mentally draining in the sense that you repeatedly do the same thing again and again, but it doesn’t bring any actual, meaningful results, thus, causing you to become stressed and really frustrated.

And so, it was during this latest meet-and-greet session that it became truly cemented in my mind that the only way to bring about actual change is through mobilization of the masses and people’s power.

It’s High Time People Exercise Their Collective Power To Demand Action From The Government

Given that our current political system is heavily skewed towards and ultimately prioritizes the interests of the elite class and corporations, true change can only come from such significant mass movements from the ground level.

This is mainly because the ruling class fears the negative perception and image of the public towards them, which will in turn seriously affect their chances of getting re-elected during the upcoming elections.

And so, if they see that a large portion of the public is seriously disappointed and angry with them, such that it could really affect their chances of winning in the upcoming elections, only then will they start to take things seriously and give in to the demands for systemic changes.

All that being said, there’s no doubt that this particular method of actually changing the system through people’s power is challenging, difficult, and will take a long time.

This is especially taking into account the process of raising awareness amongst people in the first place regarding the widespread systemic problems that exist and that it’s those exact problems that are the true cause of the people’s daily socioeconomic issues.

But with the current state of things, I genuinely believe that it’s the only way forward in bringing about actual, meaningful change in order to truly help the people, especially those who are underprivileged.

It’s very important that more and more people come to this realization that only through people’s power and massive mobilization can actual, meaningful change take place.

Copyright Raveen Jeyakumar, 2024. All rights reserved.

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