REMINISCING the months and days prior to GE14 brings mixed emotions – courage, anxiety, perturbation, fear, excitement, and jubilation.

The profound emotions forced tears into my eyes. Had the results of the 14th general election been otherwise, the National Patriot Association might not exist today.

Most polls had predicted Barisan Nasional as unassailable. With all the odds stacked against Pakatan Harapan, no sane mind would bet BN to lose.

It was during the height of racial and religious politicking, the royalties included, that Patriot came into prominence from October 2017 after a series of media statements denouncing racial and religious bigotry.

Under intense attack from thence opposition parties on successive scandals that culminated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, Umno retaliated with the weaponised 3R issues claiming to protect the Malays, Islam and the Malay rulers.

The race and religion card played to the hilt was damaging and causing repugnance no civil minded could tolerate.

Pakatan Harapan was in disarray and for some time it could not decide who should lead.

PKR had internal tussle for leadership. DAP was fighting against deregistration and was a convenient target as boogeyman for Malays to hate. Amanah and Bersatu were busy recruiting members.

Meanwhile the former twitter-easy IGP and the force in his disposal were ever ready to pounce. Umno outsourced spinners to concocted stories aimed at “DAP Chinese” for cybertroopers to disseminate.

Under such milieu Patriot stepped forward and called the bluff of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, called the pretense of Jamal Yunus and his ilk that smashing beer bottles and threatening to draw blood were acts of cowardice, and called the insincerity of Umno leaders’ Malay-protector hullabaloo.

If they spun and concocted lies, we knew better. If they behaved like gangsters, we had battle scars to show, literally and figuratively.

If they claimed loyalty to the royalties and people, we had risked our lives over mine fields and booby traps, and spent the prime of our lives leaving our loved ones behind for long durations.

Some of us were in perpetual risk doing clandestine work. The peace we have today was paid by sweat, anguish and blood. We had served our king and country with pride and honour.

Bersih 2.0 and Invoke had requested Patriot to help monitor early voting in military and police establishments, which we readily obliged. (This interesting story on early voting will be narrated in a separate piece). Other than early voting we had other concerns.

Cambridge Analytica was reportedly tasked to help BN/Umno win election. As retired military and police officers, we understood well how psychological warfare was fought.

We focused on pre-empting their moves. Four statements we issued on the illegality of mining personal data for use in social media. Our statements helped kept the public discourse alive, cautioned the potential damage.

Another concern was the possibility of declaring emergency through the National Security Act if the results of GE14 created an upset. Patriot again pre-empted.

A few statements were issued at regular intervals urging the IGP and the Armed Forces Chief to stay neutral and put the interest of the people and nation first.

Our president General Mohamed Arshad and a few of our committee members met with Dr Mahathir Mohamad and urged him to also make similar statements.

As polling day drew nearer, our media statements were more frequent, keeping pressure on the ruling parties, keeping check on RPK, Jamal, and some of the gangster-like politicians.

Word had it that we were under close scrutiny of the Special Branch. Thoughts of our nation going to the drains and our children having to shoulder the debt burden motivated us to soldier on.

On May 6, three days prior to polling day, Patriot organised the Forum Aspirasi Rakyat aimed to motivate the people’s perseverance.

The Special Branch expectedly came to harass by taking pictures during the forum. Names of forum participants had to be submitted to the police station.

The below expectation turnout because of fear was made up by the broad media coverage. Our sajak video, Kembalinya Pahlawan Silam, was timely released and morale uplifting.

On polling day, starting from 7am to 7pm, 10 of our committee members, including our President, had our mobile phones spammed with almost incessant calls from abroad, confirming that we were being marked.

Trepidation had accompanied the hours through the night of May 9. Prepared to be in a lock up, General Arshad decided to sleep early one last night in his comfortable bed.

As the PR director, I would be the next person in line to be arrested. The anxiety of being interrogated kept me awake.

There were moments where it seemed like my heart and lungs had stopped. I had surrendered my reality to the Almighty. My prayers, like everybody’s, must have helped. Finally, jubilation!

To the hundreds of thousands at home and abroad, who voted early and on that fateful Wednesday, Patriots salute you. – May 2, 2019

* Captain Dr Wong Ang Peng is a researcher with an interest in economics, politics, and health issues. He has a burning desire to do anything within his means to promote national harmony. Captain Wong is also a member of the National Patriots Association.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.