The Rise of a Dark Night: Batman, Elections, and The People

I promised a post on the lessons I’ve learnt from Batman. However due to my emotions swarmed by the results of the elections in my country, I am writing about my thoughts and feelings about it.

Batman is no doubt my favourite superhero and I try my best to be Batman. That’s because you should always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then be Batman.

I was speaking to my friend Jofan, who is another passionate Malaysian about the elections(before it took place) and when we spoke about the corruption, I mentioned that we needed Batman.

I’ve rewatched The Dark Knight Rises a couple of times, and every time I do, I become a fan all over again. This time I could not help relate how this movie was so closely similar to the current election situation.

So live under a rock and have not watched the movie and actually plan to, you will encounter some spoilers in this post. Besides that, read up and see how superheroes might help you in real life(lessons learnt at least).

The hiding

This was the scene when officer Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt) introduced himself to Bruce Wayne. Blake told Bruce they’ve met, when he was a young boy at the orphanage that was once funded by the Wayne foundation.

Not knowing the funding stopped, Bruce ask why was the home used to be funded by the Wayne’s foundation but isn’t right now.

Blake said: “Maybe it’s time to get some fresh air. Start paying attention the details because some of those details might need your help.”

It might be an insignificant scene to many, but I couldn’t help relate it to the atmosphere that took place when elections were close.

All of a sudden, everybody is now a political expert, everyone is sharing the dirt the government is doing and everybody is fighting for a change.

While this is indeed a good thing, the question is where were you 2 years before the election? Is that spirit of change you displayed so proudly hiding in a corner 2 years ago?

I have no right to judge because frankly speaking I was once like that.

We think it’s all about following the crowd and being part of the hype, when election approaches, everyone starts bashing the government and we wanted in.  We then became keyboard warriors, spreading messages across Facebook, Twitter and any other social media sites you can think of.

Now the 13th General Elections has ended, will we follow the mistake of Bruce Wayne, thinking that it’s time for that spirit of change to go into hiding or will wake up every single day to fill the air with change?

Broken but not dead

While round 1 of Bane v.s Batman was a pretty epic, I’m going to fast forward right to end of the fight.

The scene when Bane broke the spine of Batman.

In our heads, a broken spine usually means death; after all, our spine is the messenger for every single function that takes place in our body. Without the messenger, nothing functions.

The fight caused Batman a broken spine. Unable to move without pain, he was thrown in the pit, destined to die a torturous (mentally & physically) death.

Cut the long story short, he got his spine fixed through a highly non medical way (which I don’t endorse). He then trained his body with some push-ups, pull-ups and sit ups to prepare for the jump.

When the election results was announced and the same government that has been ruling for the past 56 years took power once again, spirits were broken.

I saw posts on Facebook and Twitter claiming that democracy is now dead and the people of Malaysia should leave the country because it’s a place where democracy no longer exists.

This is a very short sighted and untrue view.

Democracy doesn’t only take place every 4-5 years during the elections, it happens every single day.

Every time you speak out against something you dislike, that’s democracy taking place. When you send a complain letter to the office management about the leaking tap, that’s democracy taking place. Democracy is all about the rights you have, and standing up for your rights, every damn day.

Democracy in Malaysia might not be a perfect picture of rainbow and unicorns. That does not mean that it is dead, it simply means that it’s just broken. Just like how Batman did his best to fix his body, the responsibility to fix democracy lies in our hand. 

“People are claiming that democracy is dead? That’s what they said about batman, but he came back stronger. It might be broken, that’s why it’s up to us to fix it.”

The rope

After the countless push-ups, Bruce felt he was ready. He made the jump, only to fail not once, but twice. On the third time, he made the jump, but without the rope, without the as a tool that kept him safe just in case he fell.

The way I see it, that rope was holding him back (its physics). And that’s the same thing with the people in our country.

We desperately want to make the leap, and after the ton of preparation that was done, we think that it is going to be easy. All we need to do is to send out a few Facebook statuses and twitter updates from the comfort of our homes. Then BAM! Change will take place.

That mindset is the rope that is holing us back, we want it to be comfortable, and that is when we are mistaken.

Change will take place but I can be pretty damn sure that the change you want to see will not come comfortably. I wrote above that democracy must be done every damn day, relates well to this point, because democracy is never comfortable.

Think about it, Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison to end the apartheid. Martin Luther King was assassinated because he stood up for the rights for his people, and here we are wanting to leave country when we don’t get the change we want.

Have we fought as hard as Mandela and MLK? I highly doubt so since all of you are neither in prison nor dead since you are reading this.

Mandela and MLK displayed how uncomfortable change can be, and that can be no further from the truth.

We need to let go of the rope that is holding us back. The rope of comfort that prevents us from exercising our rights, from taking the streets and fighting for our country needs to be thrown away if we want a change in our country.

“It’s time to fight for the land we love because the day the people stop fighting is the day we will lose our country”. <—- Click to Tweet!!

Selina Kyle

Besides being extremely hot in her cat suit, Catwoman whispered a few lessons that could be learnt from this situation. The most notable one was in her conversation with Batman.

Catwoman: I’ll open that tunnel, then I’m gone.

Batman: There’s more to you than that.

Catwoman: Sorry to keep letting you down.

Catwoman: Come with me. Save yourself. You don’t owe these people any more. You’ve given them everything.

Batman: Not everything. Not yet.

I had Goosebumps when I heard those words.

The scene depicts Catwoman’s desire to flee the city and encourages Batman to do the same. Now I’m pretty sure you can see how that relates.

I believe that there’s more than what meets the eye in every single Malaysian out there. I love Malaysia and I have no intention of leaving it to rot while it is in trouble, because running away will never solve the problem.

Before you have any intention of leaving, ask yourself this: have you given Malaysia everything? I’m pretty sure your answer would be: not everything, not yet.

The Dark Knight Rises

The highlight of the elections, besides the results, should be the event that took place at Lembah Pantai. The people who formed a human barricade to prevent phantom ballot boxes from entering the counting station is an act that displayed an important sign.

The sign of people power.

Who rules the country would not matter if people power doesn’t exist. After all, it is the people who gives the government their power and keep their actions accountable.

If you think nothing was gained, think again A huge empowerment took place during this election. While the numbers might not be massive, it is definitely a good start.

Sometimes we rely too much on others, to do the things we want. A good example is the petition to the White House that is circulating all over Facebook. To be honest, I commend the efforts of those who want to see change taking place; however change will only take place when we take matters into our own hands. It’s time to get empowered and stop pushing the responsibility to others.

While Tony Pua, Nurrul Izzah, Hannah Yeoh and the rest of the politicians acts as a representative of the people, it is important not to neglect the power we have. Politicians are simply a representative of the people, and honestly speaking, anyone can be a politician even without the fancy terms and names the politicians have.

Here are two quotes that highlight the power of the people in The Dark Knight Rises:

[Before Batman carries the bomb away from Gotham]

 Jim Gordon: I never cared who you were…

Batman: And you were right.

Jim Gordon: …but shouldn’t the people know the hero who saved them.

Batman: A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.

[Conversation with Blake}

Batman: The idea was to be a symbol. Batman could be anybody, that was the point.

The idea of politicians was to be a symbol and a politician can be anybody willing to stand up for something that you believe in. Anybody can be a politician, and if you think you are not interested in politics, politics will always be interested in you.

I hope and pray that people power will keep on growing throughout this nation. Things might or might not get worst after this election, but I can guarantee that it will be worst if the people don’t do anything.

“Let us learn from this election (and Batman). When corruption and havoc causes the country to fall, the people will rise.”<—— Click to Tweet.

Now that the elections are over and everybody has their thoughts on the  outcome. This is how I feel and would love to know your thoughts as well. Leave your thoughts in the comment below and don’t forget to share this with everyone who waited anxiously for the election results.

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