Time for Change, Vote for Opposition

Its finally the wee hours of election day, come 8 o'clock people will start lining up outside schools, halls and other voting stations throughout the country to have a say in Malaysia's future. Its the right and responsibility of every eligible citizen to go out and vote, its a responsibility that must be taken seriously and it ultimately impacts the way this country will be governed the next 5 years.

I just can't help how MCA, MIC and Gerakan leaders go about pleading the electorate for votes, "you don't vote us there'll be no Chinese or Indian representation in government" .... to me thats the problem in todays Malaysia..race based politics.. UMNO for the Malays, MCA for the Chinese and MIC for the Indians it then becomes a coalition of convenience in which no one really has a say in anything except UMNO. Off course MIC and MCA MP's don't get to speak up on issues effecting their constituents for fear of UMNO's wrath.

We can put a stop to their shenanigans and mismanagement by voting opposition come voting time and if we're lucky we'll have a strong opposition or if miracles indeed happens we'll be looking at a new ruling coalition come sunday morning. Well impossible can be conquered, it has been done before why not here in Malaysia instead for a change? We can precisely do that by voting opposition instead it doesn't matter who it could be... the moon, the double moon or the rocket just as long as its not the dacing. As I like to tell people these days "undi dacing dapat cacing". We should vote for parties who represent all Malaysians and take into heart the interest of all Malaysians in their agenda. Parties who go about keris waving, scare monggering, who tolerate corrupt practices, tolerate gender discrimination i'e the bocor saga, racism in parliament i.e the bugger from Jerai.... should be voted out and never let back in...and one fine day when we finally have a 2/3rds majority we can may be legislate the outlawing of race based political parties, to me that will be wonderful.

As for now, just go out and vote, show these buggers who really is the boss.Every vote counts and its secret.. ballot papers have serial numbers no more and you are not liable to anyone else on your choice except your own conscience.

And Justice for All

Its been awhile since i posted here, i had become bored with blogging. I initially found it to be the best outlet to vent out my thoughts and opinions on issues and the world surrounding me. After awhile i didn't see the point of it anymore and just got bored. But the now a lot is happening around us and I have just realized that this may be my best outlet after all.

I have always felt strongly about politics and current affairs, and these election season for some reason or another seemed exciting to me and hence i decided to volunteer in a campaign. I chose to volunteer for an opposition party here in the Klang Valley thru the reccomendation of Pusat Komas a local human rights NGO , and have since been going to their operations room regularly to help out in whatever way I can. The main reason i volunteered is for the simple reason that just yacking away in the coffee shop ain't gonna change the world, why not get involved for a change? the idea made sense to me and I just signed up, it just seemed to me the right thing to do.

Now that I have signed up, have I any regrets? NO!... yeah I didn't really know what to expect from it all . I show up for a few hours a day whenever I can, and just do whatever is required to be done at that given day or moment. Leafleting and canvasing is fun albeit tiring, and the best part of it is that I got to meet lots of like minded people and personalities who are totally committed to a just and democratic Malaysia. Its truly refreshing indeed. But most importantly i feel that I am a part of something important, and that is a bloody good feeling. Yeah BN will almost certainly win the elections, but at least I can say to myself " I did what I could".

This saturday I will vote for the first time in my life, and I'm really looking forward to it as its my chance to say NO! to a system I despise. Its off course upsetting to hear that the Election Commission will not be using indelible ink this time around due to reasons of "national security" and off course to uphold the constitutional right to cheat by the incumbent. But then think about it, all is not lost. Every registered voter still has his or her vote, and that to me counts for something. It means that everyone still has the right to vote for change, and if the vast majority of people actually decide to do so then no amount of cheating will be ever able to stop that. That is to you my friends " People Power". We owe no one nothing, and its our right to be served by a clean and fair government who is accountable for every action it carries out.

The Bocor Saga..... Closure at Last?

The two circus monkeys have finally apologized over the "bocor " remarks made in parliament last week against Fong Po Kuan MP, but this after being told to do so, and apparently not out of their personal conscience. This in my eyes shows no remorse on their part, and the UMNO bigwigs have taken no firm stand on this disgraceful issue and mostly downplaying it. The louts have of course said that the insult was uttered in the heat of the moment and done unintentionally, i accept people make mistakes from time to time and at times utterly stupid ones. But if its unintended as they claim it to be, isn't it all the more appropriate to apologize earlier? instead of saying theres nothing to apologize for.

This whole episode stank of hypocrisy on the part of BN and the government, where were their female MP's throughout this hoohah , except for Ng Yen Yen the others have been very quiet these past 10 days, I wonder,why?. And finally when there was finally an apology, they refused to personally apologize to Fong who bore the brunt of their insult. All in all the entire handling of this incident has been a disgrace from Prime Minister down.

If BN wants to improve its credibility among the electorate, the best thing to do is to drop these rogues from their candidate list come the next general elections which is apparently not too far away. Aside from these two, they should also remove all MP's who have a history of making racist statements and stop using thuggish SS style methods to silence opposition MP's and act as his enforcers in parliament. Theres nothing resembling the "cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang" Abdullah Ahmad Badawi so proudly proclaimed in his party's manifesto in the current state of affairs when it comes to the conduct and professionalism of his backbenchers. Probably its about time the Prime Minister walked his talk and stop being spineless and out of control for a change.

The Federal Circus is in town

The Dewan Rakyat is an amazing institution when compared to other similar legislative bodies around the globe, where lawmaking and policy shaping are serious business complemented with sober proceedings and protocols. The Dewan Rakyat instead every now and then becomes a circus, with some of its backbenchers transforming themselves into monkeys, donkeys, clowns and other sort of apes breaking into verbal purging flaunting their superiorly low intellects and other ape like tendencies such as thumping tables and the sort.

But the recent incident where two BN MP's , Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) and Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin) made crude sexist remarks towards Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) regarding her menstrual cycles ("mana ada bocor? Batu Gajah pun tiap tiap bulan bocor") is a step to far and totally unacceptable in a modern day society. To add to my disgust is that the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat refused to take action against the duo, and the top echelons of UMNO and the government are ignoring the issue and refusing to punish the duo. Even the minister of in charge of womens affairs , Sharizat Jalil has refused to condemn the incident, merely stating it'll be brought up to the cabinet which in my view just shows her double standards and hypocrisy in dealing with this issue. In the past she has condemned without hesitation PAS politicians for sexist remarks which are nowhere as crude as those uttered by the two UMNO MP's , but now she just shies away with nothing much to say.

The due will most likely get away again, and the "esteemed" UMNO leadership will just close an eye on this matter as they always have done. Having said that, the electorate must ensure that these rogue MP's and others similar to them do not get reelected come next elections. The parliament is the highest elected legislative body in the land, and as such must maintain its dignity and credibility in the course of performing its functions. Having loose mouthed racist louts will not contribute anything towards its functions of state. Secondly BN must be denied a 2/3rds majority, the current 92% majority they now enjoy leads to a sense of invincibility which helps the get away with anything. A stronger opposition will keep them in check, and they will be more mindful of their actions. The ball is now in our court, what are we gonna do about that?

Jamaludin Jarjis Must Be Sacked

Its recently been highlighted that the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation made derogatory remarks towards an Indian Malaysian student in Los Angeles recently, I find it utterly disgusting that a highly educated man and cabinet minister such as Jamaludin could make such racist remarks in public. The matter was highlighted by the student's sister in a letter to Malaysiakini, and apparently the student has written to the Prime Minister regarding the incident.

Say a minister or high ranking government official in another country uttered such a remark, there will be a loud outcry and demands for resignation. The offending politician will probably issue a statement denying the allegations or claiming them to be out of context. There will be a press conference, a few crocodile tears will be shed, and the bugger is out of office. But here in bolehland where anything goes, the matter will be hushed up and swept under the carpet. Mainstream media won't cover the story, and the perpetrator gets away. In this case, the minister just keeps quiet and pretends nothing had happened.

Apparently the Prime Minister has been sent a letter by the student regarding this incident, its therefore now the Prime Ministers responsibility to reprimand and sack Jamaludin. We must understand that the minister was representing Malaysia in a foreign country, and should have conducted himself in manner which is becoming of such responsibility and privilege. Instead he had made a fool of himself, and potentially could have brought adverse publicity to the country. For that reason he should be sacked, failing which the Prime Minister is in dereliction of duty and clearly not competent enough to hold the post he is now holding.

your vote is a secret

In my previous post i was talking about voting and registering to do so, i forgot to mention that your vote is a SECRET. Previously there had been serial numbers on ballot papers, which in theory can help track your vote down. But as of last years Sarawak State elections, the serial numbers have been removed from the ballot papers. Therefore " the government can track me down" excuse doesn't apply anymore. SO GO REGISTER ASAP!!!

Buy- Elections

Its been a while since i last posted, lot of things have happened since then . The Tamil Tigers now have an air wing, and its scaring the daylights (or rather nightlights) out of Colombo and its sole international airport. Iraq continues to be a bloodbath , a South Korean madman decided to buy a couple of guns and murder 32 of his fellow students at Virginia Tech, Yeltsin is dead, Tony Blair is on the verge of buggering off, Saddam got hanged, Australia won yet another cricket world cup and closer to home there was a by-election and two buy-elections.

The by-election was in some constituentcy which i can't remember the name, anyhow the opposition decides to boycott and BN just marches back into town. Without opposition the process is pretty much straight forward, just show up on nomination day to register yourself. And since the only opposition is a 21 year old Chinese youth who ran as an independent, theres not much effort to put in. And hence BN won handsomely without much effort.

As for the buy-elections one was in Machap, Malacca and the other in Ijok, Selangor. Here the opposition contested too DAP and PKR respectively, and the BN election machinery comes to life in full swing. These places which many Malaysians never knew existed suddenly became the centre of media spotlight, suddenly the government starts upgrading roads, awarding long overdue land titles, clearing up drains and installing street lights , things they have neglected to do for so long. Millions of Ringgit worth of projects were poured overnight into the areas, it would not have happened in the absence of an election. In fact some Chinese Association in Machap took out an advert in a Chinese newspaper thanking the DAP for contesting the elections, if it was a "no-contest" they would not have gotten all these goodies from the government. The funny thing is that its known that BN has bottomless resources when it comes to funds and such to run campaigns, but they also have access to government funds which they can use to their advantage like pouring in projects into the contested area during campaign periods. People just fail to realize that their being bribed with their own money, which they have earlier payed as taxes.

If you are not happy with development and progress in your area, just hope your assemblyman or MP dies in office. There will be an election to choose his replacement, just hope for the opposition to contest it too. Lo and behold BN will march into town with upgraded roads, new street lights and millions of Ringgit worth of projects to upgrade the areas infrastructure and development.

A while back I finally registered to vote, its a very simple process.. just walk into your local post office and show your MyKad. The clerk will do it for you, no forms to fill up. In the end you get a pink slip that confirms your registration, this whole thing takes less than 5 minutes. So please go exercise your right and responsibility and register ASAP, as elections are in the near future and it takes 3 months for your name to be updated in the electoral roll. Theres no point just bitching about the government at the mamak shop with your mates, you want change you will have to vote for it. Thats the least anyone can do.