GE Ranting

NOTE: This post is a work in progress. There are just so many things I would love to talk about yet I have been restricted by the time factor. If you are here by chance, just come back every once in a while to look for updates.

Last updated: 07/03/08 18:17pm

Since general election around the corner, I would like to write something before it becomes rather meaningless after Saturday. It is going to be very unorganized, so just bear with me as I ramble about various topics in my mind. May I shamelessly recommend you to finish this post as I think I am making some good points across the whole spectrum of dilemmas in Malaysian politics as well as its future. Many of these points, I think, are not elaborated elsewhere in many angry ceramahs and blogs. Rational thoughts tend to be overwhelmed by emotions, and as I have always mentioned, people don't like angry people. So I strive to provide a clearer, fairer and more rational perspective without incitement, hatred and fanatic propagandas.

Let me try to write this post in Question and Answer style.

Q: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said "We need two third majority in the BN government so that the country is more stable and the foreign investors are more inclined to invest here." Doesn't it sound quite right?

A: Many countries with the most prosperous economy and social stability DO NOT have two third majority; and many countries with overwhelmingly powerful government (read: dictatorship) are not stable and prosperous. Every single person with reasonable general knowledge will be able to give you a dozen of examples for both categories above. Also, look at the US election: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are stuck in a dead heat in the US election primaries for Democrats, but it is a good sign because competitiveness begets progress. People are not worried about the "unstability" in politics, are they?

Sorry, what you said was nonsense, Abdullah.

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Q: "I have many plans, but I need more time to implement them. Give me more support so that I can do an even better job!" Should I consider giving him more time and chance for better plans?

A: 90% majority in Parliament (the last election outcome) is as much support as any generous population could give, Pak Lah. People had faith in you, they thought you are the fresh air of Malaysia . Even the most staunch anti-BN bloggers and opposition leaders once held their fire and anticipated some good things from you. (Go check any anti-BN blogs out there e.g. Jeff Ooi, Lim Kit Siang, Niamah etc, and look up posts around Pak Lah's new appointment as a PM).

With all the resouce and support in the world, if you are capable and sincere at all, you wouldn't have had any problem implementing any change or even overhaul in Malaysia. Things that you acknowledged, things that you talked about fixing, things that you promised for Malaysians. Words like "I work for you", and "I want to hear from you".

But no, Pak Lah, with arguably the most supportive population in the world, you failed to deliver most of your promises and pledges. You talked about fixing corruption; but we have Sir Zakaria who built his giant mansion in Klang, public agencies that bought stationery at unbelievably high price, fund for Primary School that went unaccounted for, and a chief justice who have the uncanny tendency to bump into his favourite lawyer throughout a trip. You talked about safety, but now we are facing an almost inexorable increase in crime. You talked about justice. Eer, well, you know the scripts.

You ignored the problems, you sheltered the corruption, you held nobody responsible. You punish the whistle-blower, you order black-out in the media, you warn the people who wanted to send a message to you. And you once said you wanted to listen to them. That you work with them.

What do we stand to gain by giving you and your party overwhelming support again this time? More whimsical changes of constitution such as arbitrarily prolonging the age of election committee chairman, just so that he can chair the election for one more time? Or more jokes like "we need the original video tape, without verifying the authenticity of the tape we will not investigate any of the allegations."

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Q: But if I don't give Pak Lah and BN support, what should I do? DAP, PKR, PAS etc all look quite extreme, many of them look fanatic, especially the PAS ones. I really don't want PAS to gain power. I don't want my state to be undeveloped like Kelantan. I don't want alcohol to be banned. I don't want my arms to be chopped off. I don't want my kids to be named Muhammad. I don't want to part with my foreskin.

A: I disagree with PAS' fundamentalist principles as much as any other secular person on the street. I do not look forward to the rise of fundamentalism and the conversion of Malaysia to fundamental Islamic state. The Malaysian constitution dictates that Malaysia IS TO remain as a secular country with Islam as the official religion, so Islamic state is unconstitutional in Malaysia, regardless of what Najib claims about it.

I also know that PAS does play a lot of dirty tactics when it comes to voting, sweet promises, vote-fishing etc. They tell the rural voters things like "vote for the real Islamic party if you are a real Muslim". They also promise lots of good things to the Chinese community, but have never nudged a single inch regarding their ultimate goal of ruling Malaysia with fundamental Islamic principles. They can be rude, and do a lot of ugly name-calling Najis, Mahadzir etc.

Yes I know that. And I don't want PAS to rule the country (not because of the foreskin part, in case you are wondering).

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Q: So, should I just draw a pile of shit on both the squares of UMNO and PAS candidate in the ballot?

A: No of course you shouldn't draw a pile of shit. Draw something that looks nicer. Like flower. (just kidding)

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Q: What do you think we should do then? Cast a blank vote? Vote BN?

A: Many people have this impression that a blank vote is a vote of no confidence to both parties. "I think both parties are not good, so I am going to cast a blank vote to let them know the fact," some say. While this might sound true theoretically, casting a blank vote simply shows indecisiveness. [to be continued]

[continued] (Writing this after Ming's first four comments)
Yes, if you have a general election with a high percentage of blank or spoiled vote, the government, the country and the world are going to get the strong message that "this country's government do not get a mandate from the people, and the opposition do not live up to people's expectation too".

But the problem is, everyone already knows that, with or without your blank vote. CNN, BBC, IHT, Reuters, The Age, Herald Suns, you name it, report about the Malaysian people's disgruntlement towards the government on a regular basis.

So what is someone going to achieve with a blank vote? A blank vote is just that - a blank vote. It's non-participation and relinquishment. I know that many people are of the opinion that opposition can do nothing much apart from shouting slogans and tirading against the government, and hence they are "useless". In fact I do feel that once in a while too. Also, some opposition members are equally, if not more radical, racist, extremist, dishonest than their BN counterparts.

However, what many fail to recognise is, one's vote in an election does not simply imply "who you want to form the government". A vote for the BN doesn't mean you agree with everything they do; a vote for the opposition doesn't mean you want PAS to rule the country. On the grand scale, the biggest implication of one's vote, is to skew the vote distribution to either party.

A corollary of the previous paragraph is that:
a) If you vote for BN, you think that BN deserves their votes (90% was what they got last time) or even more.
b) If you vote for the opposition, you want to reduce BN's majority.
c) If you cast a blank vote, you are giving your consent to the status quo (since it's the same as not voting at all) ,and hence agreeing with the current vote distribution (90% - 10% for seats, 65% - 35% for actual vote count). And no, letting them know about your discontent doesn't help with things - everyone already knows that.

In short, it's more important to think about the consequences than the "meaning" of one's vote, whatever that was supposed to be. If you think BN deserves more support, then vote BN. If you think BN's hegemony needs to be curbed, then vote for opposition. (unless that particular opposition running in your constituency is an absolute bigot, of course) So if you choose non-participation in election, either you think that the status-quo is worth preserving (which is patently wrong IMO), or you are failing to exercise whatever right that remains in you. In a country where democracy has been reduced to a five-yearly event, a blank vote is a wasted vote.

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Q: You are talking as if BN has been evil and useless. But they still did develop the country and produced a bit of result. And HEY they also gave you your scholarship! Our country is developing well, the rural areas are becoming more developed, people are not starving. Just compare with Ghana etc, we are so much better than them. [insert a few random "achievements" here]

Shouldn't we be thanking BN for what we have, and why are the opposition parties creating so much troubles? All they do are clogging up roads through demonstrations, screaming blue murders and creating tons of allegations, and some parties even talk about this unthinkably horrible thing called Islamic state. Why do you people support the opposition? They are hindering the progress of our country.

A: Many bloggers, including myself are at fault of being biased when it comes to commentaries. We seem to nit-pick the most minute mistakes of the incumbent government in order to support the opposition. We seem ungrateful to the existing progress and development, but choose to be greedy and ask for the sky in everything. We highlight all the blemishes of the government but conveniently ignore the good deeds they are doing every day. We also seem to conveniently forgive all the antics and sins of the unethical opposition members.

Ungrateful bunch, aren't we.

To begin with, I shall clarify that I am not a proponent of opposition for the sake of opposition (as always claimed by BN regarding opposition parties). Similarly, contrary to some opinions, BN is not being evil for the sake of being evil (can you believe some people actually believe that?). Those impressions are drummed in us in order to influence our rational thoughts, and in this regard "opposition = blind opposition" and "government = naturally evil" are just some of the messages drilled in us via the propagandas from both sides.

If we look at politics more rationally, what we should realise is, everyone plays their own role in democracy, and "everyone" here includes the "evil" government and the "anti-establishment" opposition. Abdullah and his friends are being ridiculous when they propose "Malaysia is a democracy that does not need opposition" - that sentence itself is a logical contradiction. Yet, it would also be naive for an opposition supporter to think that the best government would be one that is dominated by Lim Kit Siang, Hadi Awang and Anwar Ibrahim (and Wan Azizah).

All dynamic things come in an equilibrium, and it's this very equilibrium that we seek in all criticism from Jeff Ooi's to Frank's. We definitely need to be at least a bit grateful for all the development and achievements brought about by the government. It is imperative, however, for us to recognise that a government is not the same without its opposition. When I support the opposition, it doesn't mean that I fail to recognise whatever effort the government made - instead, it only means that at this very juncture, the need for more check and balance from the opposition to curb corruption and complacency is more important than the need to acknowledge the government's work.

To put it shortly: Thanks for all your good works. But tell me where all the money and justice went to!!

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Q: My constituency's candidates are from UMNO and PAS respectively. I don't like the way things are, but I don't like PAS either. Should I still vote? Who should I vote?

A: I have no right to tell you who you should vote for, but I would like people to remain astute in their options. I may come across as a staunch pro-opposition person, but I am not all out to ask people to vote opposition blindly, with songs, slogans and invectives. [to be continued]

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Q: "We can’t change things, so migrate only lah!"
Q: "Sigh politics sucks. I don’t want to get involved"
Q: "After all the complaints, but in the end BN still win la, so go vote for what wor?"
Q: "I know the BN will win for sure, so what's the point to vote?"
Q: "Politics is dirty, I am not interested, don't care lah."
Q: "I give up already."
Q: "Why do you still care? Politics in Malaysia is like a drama with the most boring and expected ending!"

(Some are adapted from Su Ann's brilliant post about General Election)

A: Why do we have people who complain about things, yet refuse to vote come election time? Or even worse, why do some young people not bother to register as a voter at all?? I am disappointed with the attitude of some people around me, especially the younger generation who is already of voting age. They give all sorts of reasons like the ones listed above. [to be continued]

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More questions to come.