Happened around December 2014, when we started losing candidates left, right and centre.
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This week has been a crazy roller coaster week. For me, there was the low of having to stay up till ungodly hours to finish lesson plans, and the high of bonding with fellows that were up equally late. There was the low of getting out of bed early to catch the bus, to the high of meeting our kids for the first time. There was also the high of hearing that all 78 fellows were confirmed for posting, to the devastating low of hearing that six of our fellows were being dropped for arbitrary reasons.
Anyone outside our organization might say, “It’s just six people, what’s the big deal?”. But what I saw on Friday was that the decision affected 78 fellows – fellows united by a single cause, united by the bonds built over the past five weeks. But in the midst of all the hurt and disappointment, I also saw strength, courage, love, support and passion.
Passion is a tricky thing. And passion can often be misdirected. Some fellows started asking why we should care about a system that doesn’t seem to care, and with valid reasons. Why should we stay on when we can be dropped according to the whims of some officers that cannot justify their decisions?
But I say, it is precisely because of the broken system that we should care even more. After all, this is why we are all here – to affect change. Come what may, we have to continue this fight. To quote Kevin Tham (one of the 2015 candidates affected by MOE’s decisions):
“I'm very frustrated and upset, but I most certainly do not regret my decision to join the mission. The challenges we face now only further convince me that there are many areas of our education system that needs improvement. In fact, this is only the beginning of more challenges to come in the Fellowship. After all, isn't that the reason TFM exists? We (Candidates, Fellows, Alumni and Staff) come together to work closely with MOE and other stakeholders to bridge gaps so that our children can have an excellent system for their education.”
This IS the reason to fight harder. To make the MOE regret every single name they dropped from our list. To make sure that the fellows that come after us will never have to experience the pain that we went through on Friday.
Let us wear the names of our fallen comrades on our sleeves as we move closer and closer to the battlefield next year. And let us remind ourselves of why we are doing this. It is for a cause greater than us. We now fight for our brothers, our sisters, our sons and daughters. We fight for all the generations to come after us. We fight for education in Malaysia, and we fight for Malaysia.
Let us never forget the tears we cried, nor wrongly channel the frustrations and hurt experienced. Instead, let us rise again and again from each and every upset and disappointment. The harder it gets, the stronger we have to become. Because we have a mission greater than ourselves.
We soldier on.
