Congratulations, OP!
You surely deserve what you have achieved, and seeing the progress of a few members of the community, the ones criticizing the system since the day it was implemented, should now understand that the system is actually for the betterment of this forum as only the ones who are capable enough are allowed to get higher positions.
only 2 people here have ranked up since the Merit system was implemented.
That is not true. Maybe they are just the two people who managed to reach Full member rank from Member, but there are more users who managed to rank up from Newbie to Member earning Merits. And I'm one of them as well.
When the system was implemented, I was a Newbie, so I didn't get any Merits initially, but I did not end up complaining about the system that it is unfair and all, but I tried my best to be what the system wants us to be, and I earned enough Merits to reach Member rank successfully without cheating. Now I'm hoping to get enough Merits to reach Full member like OP and a few others, but that is still a long way to go as it seems. I'm hoping for the best, though.