American Idol 2008 - please get down to work tomorrow
Those elected, please get down to work tomorrow
THERE is something I must say about this general election. It’s boring - to me, at least.
Gone are the days when I used to get excited about elections. Maybe then, I was looking forward so much to changes for the better. But elections after elections, it was hoping against hope. Now, I have become somewhat cynical about this democratic process.
Perhaps I know too much about how the system works, about our political leaders, the political parties in our midst and how they operate. It is also possible that I know next to nothing about politics.
Honestly, I hardly read newspapers if I am not in the office these days. Yes, this election is a mundane affair - so much so that I actually prefer to watch ‘American Idol’ (now it’s the season for the singing competition) either on StarWorld or 8TV rather than watch election news or discussions on the telly.
Tell you what, I’m more excited about rooting for 17-year-old David Archuleta to win this season’s Idol than seeing any candidate get elected tonight. So they get elected and become ‘YB’. So what!
Well, I am not the only one who says that this general election is dull. Even wire service Reuters thinks so. In a report titled ‘Malaysia’s dull poll campaign could spring surprise’ on Thursday, the agency said that “the campaign has been dull even by standards of Malaysian democracy, which has never seen a change of government but this does not necessarily portend another easy victory for the Barisan Nasional coalition, political experts said.”
However, no matter what I personally feel about the elections, this democratic exercise we have to go through once in every four or five years is very serious business. It’s about electing a government to run this nation for the next five years. Electing a government means that we, the citizenry, choose a group of people to lead us. If we make a wrong choice, we will be in trouble for the next five years.
Leaders from both the government and opposition parties have exhorted all of us at every elections to vote wisely - yes, vote wisely. Well, take a second and reflect whether you have voted wisely at the last elections in 2004.
Flaws in our electoral system
If we think we had and that the elected representative we chose had lived up to our expectation, then we should retain him/her for another term. If not, then we should vote him/her out.
Although I don’t care much for elections at this point in my life, I have always been concerned about the state of affairs of our election process, however.
But let me make this statement first.
Contrary to loud, unhappy calls from across the country for free and fair elections, I still like to believe that elections in this country are generally free and fair, though not necessarily transparent.
I say it is free and fair because all registered voters have been able to cast their votes without fear of intimidation, at least. There is security and voters can get to the polling station without fear of violence occurring or other untoward incidents. There is this sense of security among voters going out to cast their votes and this is a good feeling.
I also agree with a USM don who recently wrote that increasing complaints of unfairness can discredit elections, reduce the legitimacy of government, and increase resort to more disorderly forms of political expression.
To prevent these serious consequences, we urgently need to restore the integrity of elections. We need to treat and clean up the sources of unfairness in campaigning and constituency delimitation.
The report from local poll watchdog Mafrel of a ‘tainted’ procedure during postal voting among police and army personnel in Penang last Monday is actually worrying. Mafrel discovered that all the army and police personnel were required to fill up a separate identity declaration form consisting of their name, identity card number and ballot paper’ serial number prior to voting.
Upon checking the postal vote envelope, the identity declaration form will clearly reveal the identity of the voter and who he had voted for.
“Voting secrecy is among the most fundamental principles of the democratic process. It should not be compromised,” Mafrel said.
Like many of you, I am also disappointed with what had happened. That certainly does not speak very much for this democratic and ‘secret’ exercise of choosing our government. Now, we can only hope that the Election Commission take steps to prevent such an incident from recurring.
In passing, I must also mention that the turnaround on the use of indelible ink in this elections has also not been well accepted by Malaysians at large. But these are issues which will probably, and sadly, be buried until the next elections.
‘Listen YB to what I say’
As tonight is election night, allow me to pen a message to all those who will wake up as a ‘YB’ tomorrow. By all means, celebrate and bask in the glory of your victory. But always remember, you have been elected to serve the people and not to be served by the people.
You must also be mindful that the expectations of the people are higher now. It is your moral responsibility to fulfill all your promises during the campaign.
For old timers who have been ‘YB’ for a long time, they will probably wake up tomorrow morning feeling very relieved. Aha, at last it’s all over. Now, I must work harder to cari kangtow for the next five years.
For those newly elected, they will probably wake up tomorrow morning thinking it was still all a dream that they are now ‘YB’. But wake up, YB. It’s no dream. Now, you better get down to work ASAP, beginning tomorrow even. You sought public office, you fought so hard (even backstab or badmouth others) to be a candidate. Now you got it. It’s time to slave for the people YB, you asked for it!
And for heaven’s sake, please do not go and print new calling cards immediately adding the honorific ‘YB’ (in bold and extra large font) in front of your name. I have thrown many of these calling cards into the wastepaper basket given to me by YBs. Catch my drift, dear YB?
As the 12th General Election comes to a close, I do have one regret though. I am unable to vote for my favourite candidate - 89-year-old grandma Maimun Yusuf - who is contesting as an Independent in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.
Seeing photos of the gutsy lady riding her red bicycle campaigning in the kampung touches my heart. Others may mock at her but I admire her interest and tenacity in offering herself to represent the people despite her age and situation. What’s more - she has started her own blog and Granny Maimun is also on Facebook..
Oh, how I wish I was a registered voter in Kuala Terengganu.
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[...] Dream Back to Eden - ifilove.com Chinese Movie Actor Saga wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAmerican Idol 2008 - please get down to work tomorrow Those elected, please get down to work tomorrow THERE is something I must say about this general election. It’s boring - to me, at least. Gone are the days when I used to get excited about elections. Maybe then, I was looking forward so much to changes for the better. But elections after elections, it was hoping against hope. Now, I have become somewhat cynical about this democratic process. Perhaps I know too much about how the system w [...]