Last of the Series

My early morning outing last Saturday led to a wonderful magical world that consumed the whole day. After looking, and salivating, at fresh sweetcorns at the market, I went to the town library. My intention was to borrow a book on painting. Not only did I get to borrow that book, but I also found Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

That book sat at the 'new books' shelf, beckoning me to come and grab it. It was as if someone in the book issues an "Accacio Harris". And came I did. It was a reallynew and fresh copy. Examining the return date slip, I found no evidence that anyone had borrowed it before. With an unqualified smug, I went to the checkout counter to borrow the book.

At home, I started reading HP&TDH immediately. It was almost 800 pages long. I'm determined to finish it before its due date. So, there I was, on my bed, clutching a book, ready to embark on the last and final adventures of HP and friends. It felt as if I was racing through the pages. I reached the 100th page; and I had'nt spend more than an hour since I started. This speed gave me a confidence that I can achieve my target. However, after a while, I decided to take a nap. I had been up since 4:00 am. Sleep overtook me, and I drifted away. 

Upon waking up, I continued reading. Not needing to have lunch, I whiled away the whole day reading it. I stopped at around 7 pm with a couple of hundreds pages to go. During iftar at my friends' house, I did not think much about the book. After iftar, and a long chit chat, plus watching Kong, I returned home after midnight. i had to tear myself away from the book to perform Isya' and tarawih. My stomach was still full, so I wasn't in great need for sahur food. I drank and munched on cookies. By fajar time, I finished reading HP&TDH. This was the second time that I had a marathon session for reading a book. The first one was for Sidney Sheldon't Tell Me Your Dreams. 

About the book..... I did enjoy reading it, even though I've read its synopsis. Knowing the ending did not spoiled the fun. In fact, it made me more informed to enjoy the fun. The book did not disappoint me. 

It even made me think of the curreent situation in Malaysia, a muggle bolehland. The government in Malaysia seems to suffer from the same 'avoidance of the truth syndrome' that strucked the Ministry for Magic. The Minister of Magic repeatedly tried to deny and quell the news about the return of Lord Voldermort. The Ministry refused to subscribe to Albus Dumbledore and Harry's information even though the evidences are overwhelmingly pointing to the truth. In a perverse way, the Ministry even attempted Harry to be a spokeperson and an official liar. The Ministry was more concerned about making up rules to maintain itself in power, as if the power can turn truth into a fantasy. 

In the end, as narrated in TDH, the Ministry fell to Lord Voldermort. The very thing that they deny brought them down. What a pity. Harry and those who believed in him continued the fight even without the Ministry's assitance. There were many who died in the fight, including those who were close to Harry like Fred, Lupin, and Doby. But he also realised that many more became more alive, like Ollivander, Luna, and the refugees of the Ministry's oppression, due to their participation in the fight. They combined their strength to defeat darkness. In the aftermath, Kingsley Schaklebolt, a member of the Order of the Pheonix, was made the temporary Minister of Magic. He fought against darkness, and gained political power as a side-consequences.

I'm worried that the truth-avoidance-syndrome, and truth-bending-policy of the current government will bring them down. What if there are the likes of Lord Voldermort and his Death Eaters planning the downfall of the government? What if Malaysia fall into Darkness? Do we have the likes of the Order of the Pheonix who fight for justice, and not for personal glory? Do we instead have a person fighting for political power, and justice is just a side-consequences? Do we have Severus Snape who worked for both good and evil but lived ultimately for the greater good?

The book is not written as a political satire for Malaysia. There are some similarities, but i don't let myself carried away too much by the parallel. But I do feel very strongly that political spin, half-truths and outright lies can only go so far. Anyone, even a mighty 50+ years political empire can buckle under the weight of cummulative lies. Whose magic will save the day?