WHEN the Election Commission (EC) fixed a weekday to hold the 14th general election in May, a group of angry Malaysians responded in the only way they knew how – with defiance and ingenuity.

Thus was formed #UndiRabu, a crowdfunding project for Malaysians to pool their money to help bring overseas and outstation Malaysians home to vote.

Officially, #UndiRabu collected RM190,000 to subsidise the cost of travel for outstation voters, but what is unrecorded is that the initiative inspired thousands of ordinary Malaysians to start their own mini-crowdfunding efforts to get many voters home on May 9.

More importantly, however, #UndiRabu rallied Malaysians of all races, religions and backgrounds to unite to uphold their rights.

#UndiRabu was initiated by the youth wing of the Federation of Chinese Associations, but it quickly grew to become a multiracial movement.

Now that the euphoria over the change of government has settled, more than 100 days after Pakatan Harapan has occupied Putrajaya, the group is back with Merdeka Party – an event to celebrate the coming together of Malaysians over #UndiRabu.

Alzari “Joey” Mahshar, one of the founders of #Undi Rabu, said the group was in the midst of planning the event and that details of date and venue would be announced soon.

“We are going to hold a picnic-style event for people of all races to come together and enjoy food,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The group wished to show that unity went beyond politics, he said.

Dubbed the “mother of all elections” by former prime minister Najib Razak, GE14 saw 82.32%, or nearly 12.3 million of 14.94 million registered voters going to the polling booths.

This compares with an estimated 80% voter turnout in 2013.

Alzary said the Merdeka party would remind the people that regardless of politics, Malaysians had it in them stand up for one another.

“We hope to show Malaysians that unity is not a distant dream, that we can do it anywhere, any time.” – August 20, 2018.