Monday, 18 February 2008
AN APPEAL TO ALL MALAYSIAN VOTERS

Let me start off by making it clear that this is a partisan piece of literature, designed to convince Malaysian electorate to vote for, and help out the opposition this coming elections.

The first question to be asked is, why vote for the opposition? To answer this question, we have to ask 2 further questions:

1) What has the government done wrong?

2) What could the opposition do differently?

To answer the first question, we have to first understand what GOOD GOVERNANCE is all about, and how this works in a DEMOCRACY. Brace yourself for a serious discourse, because this is not an easy topic.

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRACY

GOOD GOVERNANCE simply means a leader has a vision for the country, is honest about how he’s going to achieve the vision, and proceeds to implement the vision successfully.

A democracy is the best way to choose a “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This is a quote from Abraham Lincoln, the American President who brought equality to the blacks.

In a democratic system, there is FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS, meaning every candidate vying for a seat is given enough time to express his proposals to the public. There is OPEN CONTEST OF IDEAS, like what is happening right now between Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama (of the Democratic Party), and later, one of them with John McCain (Republican Party). The voters get to hear from both sides so that they can make an INFORMED DECISION as to who to vote.

Voting is equivalent to an exercise of CONSUMER RIGHTS. Let’s say you want to buy a digital camera. First, you look for information from a manufacturer who has a broad range of products, and pick something you like, for instance a compact camera that’s easy to carry, have 3 times optical zoom, 1 gigabyte internal memory etc… but you may not like the price, so you go and find some other catalogues for other products. After thinking about various models, comparing specifications and prices, you come to an INFORMED DECISION which one to buy. The decision is highly satisfactory because you matched your expectations to that of the product.

Coming back to elections. The selection process of the right leader must be exercised like purchasing a camera you desire. Therefore you need all the information you need. Towards that end, the ELECTORAL SYSTEM must be CONSUMER FRIENDLY so that you have all the information easily assessible for you to make that INFORMED DECISION that is highly satisfactory to your needs.

The primary aspect of DEMOCRACY is therefore FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. This freedom, as the BN government has oft pointed out, should not be abused. I say fair enough. But to avoid it being abused, there is always the law of defamation and the Sedition Act. When someone tells a lie about someone else, the victim can always sue for defamation to protect his reputation. When someone says something that incites hatred in another race, or wants to overthrow the system of governance of the day (for example converting a democracy into a kingdom like Brunei), the remarks are seditious and the culprit can be prosecuted and thrown in jail. Otherwise, the press should be free to report both sides so that the process of choosing the desired leader is CONSUMER FRIENDLY and the choice is based in INFORMED DECISION.

To answer the first question

Now, going back to the first question. Has the BN government practised GOOD GOVERNANCE and encouraged DEMOCRACY? The answer is plain for all to see, and should be met by a deafening no.

Depending on how you have been exposed to ALTERNATIVE VIEWS, you would probably disagree that the government hasn’t done enough to qualify for GOOD GOVERNANCE. But I beg to differ and I will tell you why.

1) Corruption of the Judiciary

You have probably heard of the Lingam clip, and the Royal Commission of Inquiry that is set up to investigate. This sounds like a responsible government, except that the Royal Commission of Inquiry has not investigated into case fixing.

First, a bit of background on Lingam clip. Long time ago, the Bar Council (the legal body that lawyers belong to) raised the issue that a lawyer went on vacation with the Chief Justice of Malaysia (big boss of judges in Malaysia*).

This is very serious because how can a judge, hearing a case involving the same lawyer, go on vacation together?

This means the judge will likely be biased, which means the other side of the litigation is sure to lose.

Fast forward to last year. In Lingam tape, it is evident that Lingam was busy fixing judges for promotion, which means the allegation of him vacationing with Eusoff Chin, the then Chief Justice, was also likely to be true. If that is the case, then when Lingam appears in any case involving Eusoff, or people who are associated with Eusoff (his gang of judges), the other litigants are sure to lose.

So isn’t it important that case fixing be seriously investigated? The Royal Commission of Inquiry has said no to investigating case fixing. And the only reason is they are instructed by Badawi administration not to do so. Why? Because if a judge can be bought, they can also be bought by the Executive*, with promises of future corporate positions and untold wealth. After all, Malaysia is actually a very rich country.

Those who are affected by a corrupt judiciary is not going to be just the likes of Anwar, Lina Joy etc… but anyone, including the Pakciks and Makciks in kampong.

Imagine a young Malay girl getting raped by a Chief Minister. If a judge can be bought, he can say the prosecution fails to prove, despite evidence to the contrary.

Imagine makcik has a piece of land, and an UMNO state councillor is interested in that piece of land. The state councillor conspires with the land officer to compulsorily acquire the land at a cheap price, then flip it for an easy profit. The makcik goes to court to challenge the valuation of the land officer, but the judge being bought says there is no case. The makcik loses the land. These things have not exactly happened but it is not surprising that they will. We are in fact close to them happening.

When an ex Melaka Chief Minister was accused of raping a Malay schoolgirl, the Attorney General said there was no case. On the contrary, Lim Guan Eng (now Secretary General of DAP) who brought up the matter was convicted of Sedition and went to prison.

Currently, there is a case law decided by Eusoff Chin that says that if someone forges your signature and transfers your land to some innocent third party purchaser, the third party purchaser will get your land and you will lose yours. This decision has given rise to increase in land fraud cases.

So it is obvious now that the Judiciary is important, and its independence cannot be compromised. The Bar Council has proposed, as have a fair minded UMNO MP Zaid Ibrahim (who by the way have been axed by Badawi from standing in the coming elections), that an independent commission should be set up to oversee the selection, appointment and promotion of judges. But the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri has refused to entertain this idea because he will never be convinced.

The idea that the judiciary is not independent is also driving away foreign investment. Who would dare to invest here when in case of a dispute between an UMNOputra and the foreign investor, they won’t get a fair hearing?

This reason alone, is enough for a government to be brought down in a real DEMOCRACY because it is that serious. But in Malaysia, it may not be enough. But don’t worry, there are many more examples of BAD GOVERNANCE.

* This is a lesson in basic Constitutional Law.

We inherited our DEMOCRACY from United Kingdom, where a government which is led in name by the Yang DiPertuan Agong is actually run by three separate organs of government.

One is Parliament, the other is Executive and the third is Judiciary.

The role of the Parliament is to make laws, based on the wishes of the voters. It is the supreme policy making body on the land. The Executive carry out the policy made by Parliament, implement the laws passed by Parliament and enforces the law.

The Executive runs the country on a day to day basis and takes care of all the nitty gritty issues from your potholes to rescue and relief operations in case of a natural disaster. The Executive runs the police force and the army.

The Judiciary is a place where any dispute between the different organs of government, or the dispute between the government (usually the Executive) and private citizens are resolved, based on principles of justice and fairness.

The Judiciary is the organ that stands firm on questions of Constitutional freedoms and individual rights.

In Malaysia, the political reality is that since the Executive consist of Parliamentarians of the majority party in power, the Parliament is a rubber stamp for the Executive to push through its agenda. Therefore, no one really bothers with separation of power between the Executive and Parliament, even though it is still important.

What is more critical is the separation of power between the Executive and the Judiciary. The Executive may implement policies that are against individual rights. A civilian will have nowhere to run to except the Judiciary, so if the Judiciary is not independent, all hopes are lost.

We only need to see how an Executive and Judiciary working in collusion can really bring serious damage to the administration of justice in Malaysia, from those Lingam case fixing incidents, to Anwar and to a certain extent, to Lina Joy.

2) Corruption in general

The single largest complaint here is that when Badawi came to power, he recognised the seriousness of corruption, and made it his battle cry.

3 ½ years down the line, and the rakyat is crying because not a single big fish is brought to book.

JP Morgan estimates that since NEP has been implemented, Malaysia has lost RM100billion to corruption. This is by any measure a very massive amount.

Imagine how many foreign experts we could have hired, free university education for all, cheaper cars and houses Malaysians could have had if money was not wasted to corruption.

We could have surpassed Korea, Taiwan and Singapore instead of now struggling to compete with Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

We could have connected everyone in Malaysia to broadband.

We could have world class healthcare for all Malaysians.

The only people who have benefited from corruption is UMNO leaders and their sycophants in MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PBB, SUPP, PBS or UPKO.

It is also for this reason that UMNO becomes very combative everytime someone asks for a revision of the New Economic Policy, which purports to eradicate poverty amongst the Malay poor. But this is all a farce because they have every reason to keep the Malay masses poor so that they can justify the continuation of the NEP and continue to pocket in the bribes and commissions that comes with each government procurement contracts.

This reason alone is enough to boot out any government in a real DEMOCRACY, but no, in Malaysia, this may not be enough. So let’s move on to consider other failures at GOOD GOVERNANCE.

3) Deterioration in Public Safety

This is actually a very obvious failure on the part of the government. Statistics don’t lie, and they show that 6 women are raped every day in Malaysia.

Crime rate shot up 13% last year.

Badawi is the Internal Security Minister and directly oversees the police force.

Rise of crime and lawlessless is therefore directly attributable to him.

What’s the use of commodities prices going up in rural areas, benefiting the rural Malay folks, when they come home finding that their grandchild or daughter has been abducted, raped and murdered?

What’s the use when people in high places can get away with crime?

What’s the use when the Inspector General of Police himself faces claims of corruption?

Remember the Police Commission set up to reform the police force? It was set up because the previous IGP bashed up Anwar in prison. It was set up because there were several deaths in police remand, and the police was trigger happy, gunning down both innocent civilians and criminals alike.

Remember when Badawi promised to follow the recommendations of the Police Commission?

Well, the Police Commission recommended the setting up of a Police Ombudsman that will investigate and discipline the police should they step out of line or be corrupt.

To the dismay of the rakyat, Badawi has broken his promise and instead try to push to the public a dummy commission called a Special Complaints Commission that is more of a grand complaints referral body more than a body that has teeth.

We need a Police Ombudsman desperately, and BN has failed us. In another real DEMOCRACY, this would have been reason enough to boot out BN, but maybe not in this country.

4) Islamisation

First of all, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and earlier Supreme Court decisions made it clear that whilst Islam is our official religion, we are not an Islamic State. The Constitution is a secular one, i.e. it can be changed based on plurality of moral values and not solely on dictates of Syariah law. Yet, Mahathir had the temerity to declare us an Islamic State, when faced with electoral pressure from PAS. It is clearly political chicanery because failing to fight on the platform of justice and fairness, UMNO has to fight on a plat form of who implements more FORMS of Islam. To make it worse, Najid repeated what Mahathir said not too long ago. There are consequences to this declaration. It has emboldened and unleashed new and radical Islamic forces in this country, resulting on the following transgressions of human rights.

Lina Joy comes to my mind as the most sensational victim of UMNO chicanery, in its attempt to secure the Malay vote base. Complicit in this grand design are the judges who decided on Lina Joy case. They abandoned our secular Consitutition and decided that freedom of religion does not apply to Malaysian Malay Muslims. There is serious travesty of justice when a person is not free to choose his or her religion.

Despite being promised that BN will treat all races equally, fairly and justly, even as recent as prior to dissolution of the Parliament, it has been demonstrated again and again that BN pays lip service to things it promises. Syariah law and Syariah jurisdiction has been eating away into the territory of civil law, with the help of civil court judges who simply lacks the moral courage to stand up for what is right, and instead of deciding based on principles of law, has decided to rule based on their religious convicitions. Today, a divorcing parent can easily convert to Islam just so that there won’t be a fight for custody of the child, who will AUTOMATICALLY be given to the convert’s custody. If this is not travesty of justice, I don’t know what is.

Islamic Authorities, for some perverse reason, has been very callous in snatching dead bodies during funeral rites of other religions, claiming that certain bodies have converted to Islam usually shortly before death. Flimsy evidence of conversion has been accepted by the Syariah courts. The Islamic authorities seem to prefer to accept that someone has converted to Islam, rather than investigating whether the conversion is real, or is fraudulently engineered so that some member of the family will benefit from exclusive inheritance of the deceased wealth to the exclusion to all other non-Muslim members of the family.

Any of the above cases are by themselves enough to spark public outcry and national condemnation in a real DEMOCRACY, but not in Malaysia. Let’s look at the last straw.

5) Lack of national competitiveness

Despite claims by Badawi that our government is moving along fine, we are not.

As already been pointed out, we have lagged far behind Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, which we were healthily competing against only a decade ago.

Our education standards have dropped to such dismal depths that we no longer have any world class universities, not even University of Malaya.

Our graduates are unemployable, and most end up with the government as the employer of last resort. This goes to explain why the standard of our civil service is appalling.

Badawi does not have any visionary ideas to move our economy forward. This is another reason why a number of more developed Malaysian states could be made as exemplars of what GOOD GOVERNANCE can do, if we just give the opposition a chance.

GRUDGING DEMOCRACY

There are many other failures of BN, but the above five sums up the most serious transgressions of human rights and exemplifies the state of lawlessness and BAD GOVERNANCE in Malaysia.

What makes this worse, and also explains why BN is still in power, is that BN hates real DEMOCRACY. As pointed out above, people can only select good leaders if they get to make INFORMED DECISIONS. INFORMED DECISIONS can only arise if people are exposed to ALTERNATIVE VIEWS.

Malaysians have been fed with controlled truth for as long as I can remember. Assuming a news item consist of 2 items, but the second item is unfavourable to the government. You will find that the second item will not be shown over RTM, TV3 and the rest of the broadcast channels in Malaysia. The second item will also not show over mass circulation papers associated with UMNO or MCA such as News Straits Times, the Star, Utusan Melayu etc… even Nanyang and to some extent SinChew has been compromised. To an ordinary reader who is not exposed to ALTERNATIVE VIEWS found in the internet such as Malaysia-Today, or various blogs belonging to opposition MPs such as Lim Kit Siang, they would have absolutely zero idea what the second item is, and therefore assumes nothing is wrong with the government. This is called half truths. In law, half truths are no better than a lie.

Another way is to black out the news. During the Bersih rally, the mass circulation media did not report the matter even though 50,000 people gathered to go to Istana Negara, and this was reported by all overseas press rooms.

The third method is to outright lie. The press do not do this, only government officials would. For instance in the Bersih rally, the press finally conceded that it has to be reported because it could no longer be hidden, but the officials put the number of people turning up at the rally at 10,000, instead of 50,000. The sad thing is to someone who only reads mass circulation media, he or she would not know whether the figures are right or wrong unless there is comparison with something else, in the form of ALTERNATIVE VIEW.

The last is to misrepresent the situation, and sometimes, the press deliberately works hand in glove with the officials to achieve this. For instance, world press reported the latest Hindraf rally on 16 February, Saturday, as a peaceful protest where people tried to bring roses to Badawi to urge him to release the 5 Hindraf activists who are detained under ISA. Badawi alleged instead that Hindraf aims to disrupt the elections by putting fear in people to prevent them to come out and vote! Though it is fair for a politician to have his own views, we find a deafening silence from the compliant media, with no one asking him HOW was Hindraf going to be able to disrupt the elections when they neither have the numbers nor the machinery to disrupt a nationwide held event.

Further proof of abuse of the mass media is how the tv is showing repeatedly violent protests and juxtaposition with opposition leaders, implying that the opposition stands for violence. The facts are, there would have been no need for any tear gas canisters or chemically laced water to be fired into the crowd, and no scene for the foreign press to have a field day talking about, if the police would have just allowed the assembly to go on. These were peaceful people, pakciks, makciks, office workers etc… trying to make themselves heard, and not some paramilitary extremists.

If we had real DEMOCRACY, these biased reporting would have been roundly condemned. But not in Malaysia. The next time to turn on the tv, just take it with a pinch of salt.

There are other transgressions of DEMOCRACY, especially one perpetrated by the Election Commission. The Election Commission is complicit in gerry mandering that is technically disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Malaysian voters by creating skewed quality of votes. Two constituencies may send two MPs to Parliament, but one represents 100,000 voters, and another just 10,000 voters. 90,000 voters have technically been disenfranchised.

But the rot does not stop here. There are allegations of phantom voters, vote rigging and abuse of postal votes to shore up BN candidates (especially important ones) from losing their election.

The Election Commission has silently ignored a storm of evidence of irregularities, and in fact had the temerity of arguing that those evidence should not be held against them because they are so “minor”.

Our Election laws are clear that electoral bribes are prohibited, yet the Election Commission tai-chis the responsibility to ACA and Police to book candidates caught for offering bribes, when clearly they are empowered to enforce the Election laws.

The electoral appeals process has been cut down to make the decision of an Election Court non-appealable, and coupled with a corrupt and compliant judiciary, may spell doom for opposition candidates even after they win, especially if the wins are not clear and decisive.

I only wish to point out one case, involving another travesty of justice. Our former Chief Justice, when he sat in the Election Court to decide on a case of Wee Cho Keong, then duly elected MP for Bukit Bintang, decided wrongly that no new elections were required after disqualifying Wee on account that contempt of court is a criminal matter instead of a civil matter, and in fact awarded the election to an MCA candidate who merely secured the third highest votes for that constituency.

CONCLUSION

What we have above, is a systemic failure of GOOD GOVERNANCE. Systemic means serious, system wide. Massive. It means beyond repair.

It means we need to do something with our votes, and we need to make the right decisions.

You may think that I will be imploring you to vote for the opposition now. No, not yet, because I know you have other concerns. Let me address some of these concerns.

a) May 13

At times like this, the government will raise the spectre of another May 13. Chew Mei Fun of Petaling Jaya Utara already did. It is disingenuous for UMNO to ask her to do it, so that it does not look like it came from UMNO, but from a fellow Chinese. But make no mistake, MCA is colluding with UMNO in this regard.

First of all, it really begs the question – can May 13 ever happen again? Consider this. Last time, there was a groundswell of discontent amongst Malays that they are backwards. UMNO elements took advantage of the situation, incited some Malays to run amok, and the rest is history. This time round, there is a very large middle class in Malaysia with their houses and assets and jobs to go to everyday. They will not riot because there is no reason to, and they don’t want to risk damaging their livelihood and assets. There is no longer incentive to riot. Therefore, May 13 can never happen again.

And consider this. If there is really a riot, who do you think instigated it? If the opposition wins, would it be to their benefit to instigate violence so that emergency rule may be declared by Barisan Nasional? Of course not. Riots can only be instigated by the loser. So don’t you believe that if the opposition wins, they will cause violence. All BN is saying is if they lose, they will cause violence. Which makes that this is a threat to prevent you from voting against them. But think carefully – would you vote someone who threatens to punish you with violence if you don’t vote for them? I think the answer is no.

As voters, we should not be cowed by threats, and we should vote with our best intentions and take possession of our votes. Don’t ever let regret haunt you down the years, regret that you did not do what is right, but what you thought was safe. There is no satisfaction in that, especially when it turns out safety is not what you imagined it to be, but something fleeting, depending on the political expediency of UMNO.

b) Chinese vs Chinese, loss of minority representation in the government

MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and PBS are imploring the relatively minority races, i.e the Chinese, Indians, Kadazan and Dusuns, to continue voting for BN, so that there will be continued representation of their interest in government.

I find this truly a mockery, for a few reasons.

1) They have not stood up to unilateral declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state, and the attendant problems that the declaration brings, as demonstrated amply above

2) They have not stood up against endemic corruption in the Judiciary and in general, because they are part of the problem

3) What they do is to give UMNO a semblance of legitimacy in pushing through its radicalist agenda that only serves to benefit UMNOputras and their sycophants in MCA, Gerakan and MIC

So this begs the question. Is there a point in voting for MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP or PBS if they have not represented the voices of the minorities for the past few years? Why give UMNO the legitimacy, allowing UMNO to claim that its decisions have the support of these parties, who purportedly represent the respective minority races in this country?

But granted, it is still not easy for voters to vote out MPs who have provided good services within their constituencies.

My answer is this. As an MP, the first role must be to scrutinise policies so that they are good for the constituency and the people at large. An MPs role, though as admirable as it may seen, is not about covering up potholes, fixing streetlights, or doing fundraising to build a single school or two for the entire Chinese or Indian community. If an MPs role in BN is reduced to these, then we might as well not have such MPs.

I know there will be a particular headache for Penang, as it appears that the wind is on the back of DAP. Many Penangites would be deliberating on whether they should support DAP, as they are concerned that Malays will continue to support UMNO, resulting in, if UMNO wins more than half state seats, there is every chance that Penang will get a Malay Chief Minister.

I will only have this to say. As it is, Gerakan led state government is only a façade. The power behind the Penang administration already resides with UMNO. I will argue that it makes no difference whether Gerakan or UMNO leads Penang.

Also consider this. If UMNO leads Penang and punishes the Chinese in any way at all, come the next elections, BN will find itself in deeper trouble, because Gerakan and MCA as a party will still be in existence, and it would be amply demonstrated that they have failed to check on UMNO. And UMNO will be finally be directly scrutinised for its treatment of the Chinese and Indians in Penang, as it no longer could hide behind Gerakan and pull the strings.

So it should not matter if UMNO manages to survive to form the next state government when Gerakan and MCA fall.

Penangites must vote with their conscience, and do what is best not only for themselves, but for all of Malaysians.

c) What about all the goodies being given out by BN this near to elections as indication that they are willing to change?

The short answer to that is, this near to elections, any promises or goodies given out is clearly a reflection of fear more than anything else. We only need to look to Ijok to realise how much the government is willing to bend over backwards to beat Anwar. Ijok had decades of development brought up to speed in just a few weeks. It is therefore insincere and I wouldn’t lose sleep thinking this through. Besides, BN’s conduct is criminal.

Giving out goodies, or promising to give out goodies this near to elections constitute Electoral Offence of Bribery.

But consider this, if BN gives, please take, because grants, promises to build schools, give lands etc… these are government property, meaning property belonging to the people, and not properties of BN. Consider it a gift by the general rakyat of Malaysia, and the taxpayers of Malaysia, to these few special classes of voters.

Since the gifts do not come from BN but from the government and the taxpayers, there is no need to feel guilty taking them, yet voting for the opposition.

The Deputy Prime Minister has just lambasted Felda settlers for being ungrateful even after the government has given them houses etc… because they are asking more. This near to elections, one must wonder why Najib would say such things to drive away voters. The answer is simple. Felda settlers are waking up that if they want anything from the government they better get it now, otherwise it’s just empty promises. Najib’s tirade is also indicative that once the voters have acquired the wisdom to get as much as possible before the elections, BN will no longer have the means of giving to all. It makes no sense when you have to bribe the entire nation to win. You might just as well have good policies in place and forget about the sweeteners. This is, I think to Felda settlers’ credit, a message to all voters that bribes are no longer useful, and cannot replace real GOOD GOVERNANCE.

d) But shouldn’t Badawi be given more time to put into effect such serious reforms?

The short answer to this is, you need a blitzkrieg approach against corruption. By going slow, any potentially damaging evidence would have been destroyed or hidden by now, witnesses bought or disposed of.

Badawi had the temerity to say that he lacks evidence. This only shows that ACA has failed as an enforcement agency, because they are not doing a very good job investigating. It also means Badawi is not serious in ridding the nation of corruption because if he is, he would have made the necessary changes to the Anti Corruption Act, increase funding and officers, technology to ACA, or for that matter making ACA independent so that it can truly act without fear or favour.

In the 3 ½ years of Badawi Administration, Badawi has launched over RM1 trillion worth of economic corridors. Contrast this with all of KLIA, Petronas Twin Towers etc… the mega projects of Mahathir times, which did not even add up to RM20 billion. More significantly, contrast this with FDI last year, which is in a single digit. Now, Badawi is expecting to get RM1 trillion? There are pipe dreams, but this one tops it all.

And what are the real values of such economic corridors, if not more real estate development with hardly any software leap within?

In his tenure as Internal Security Minister, crime rate has drastically gone up. He did not take up DAP’s recommendation to increase the number of beat officers on the ground. Crime rate is not expected to go down. How many more days to past, each with 6 women being raped, before real reform takes place?

He had 91% majority in Parliament, yet he did not find an effective solution to the Civil/Syariah conflict, or the body snatching cases.

He cannot string a coherent and sophisticated answer when interviewed, and in the process embarrasses all Malaysians.

Najib in 1988 thereabouts threatened to bath the Chinese in blood because of Siuqiu demands. Hisham waved his Keris at the Chinese at consecutive UMNO general assemblies. Khairy threatened the Chinese not to take advantage of UMNO at an UMNO assembly. Melaka Chief Minister asks the Chinese and Indians to balik kampong because BN does not need them to win elections. These few politicians may not be as sleepy as Badawi, but they are radicals, and dangerous to the long term well being of Malaysia. And Badawi failed to reign them in, none of them was even investigated and prosecuted for Sedition.

Badawi promised, but failed to give us our Police Ombudsman, instead proposing a dubious Special Complaints Commission that is just another glorified government department to channel complaints of police abuse and corruption. It is another typical case of UMNO hypocrisy where the judge judges himself, and therefore demonstrates first rate breach of natural justice.

Badawi also promised a dialogue between civilisations to resolve sticky inter-religious conflicts in Malaysia, but at the last minute, he caved in to Islamic pressure within the country.

Badawi further promised to seriously consider an independent media commission which self regulates the mass media, but until today, this civil society initiative too has been met with a stone wall.

3 ½ years is a long time. It is ridiculous to expect the voters to believe that only now, so near to elections, that they are just beginning to implement the much needed reforms. How long does it take until fruition? Another 20 years? Clearly that cannot be the case. This election is a referendum on Badawi administration. In the voters’ assessment and report card, Badawi scores a perfect zero.

To answer the second question

What would the opposition do differently and why support them?

I think the jury is still out there as to what PAS has done for Kelantan. Non-Muslims will find it hard to support occasional patriarchal approach taken by the Kelantanese Government, especially on gender issues and expected dos and don’ts including separate lines in Supermarkets, seats in Cinemas etc…

There may also be questions as to the state of economic development in Kelantan. This is probably the one area that I cannot comment on because I don’t have enough research materials to comment on it either way. PAS should explain about the state of economic progress in Kelantan and be willing to subject it to public scrutiny. But perhaps to put things in perspective, Kelantan is not the poorest state in Malaysia. Sabah, under an UMNO administration, is, despite having rich resources.

PAS took control of Terengganu previously, but in 2004 lost Terengganu. It cannot be denied that the debacle is attributable to the denial of Wang Ehsan. Terengganu is oil rich, but the profits are made by the Federal Government. As a token of appreciation, the Federal Government returns part of the profits to Terengganu for development and administrative purposes. When PAS took over the state government, Mahathir denied them the Wang Ehsan, essentially punishing Terengganu voters. This is one incident whereby voters are basically forced at gunpoint to vote for BN.

As for other states, none of them have ever fell to opposition hands before, except when Gerakan was in opposition in the past, under Lim Chong Eu. Lim Chong Eu brought about unprecedented development to Penang.

What this demonstrates is that regardless of whether the state government is formed by the government or the opposition, they can be run effectively and the economy can flourish if there is GOOD GOVERNANCE. And it is especially true that the economy of any state in Malaysia can flourish even in opposition hands if they don’t have to rely on grants from Federal Government. Terengganu is an odd case, but Penang, Selangor and Sabah are completely self reliant, if not more. There is little net loss to voters in those states if the opposition takes over.

It must be borne in mind that opposition parties do not have taxpayers funds to implement mega projects like BN. Therefore, it is a fallacy to expect them to bring about development even if they win certain constituencies. There is only one role that the opposition is expected to do in any real DEMOCRACY, and that is to have their own programs to help the local community, and to force change in government policy.

If you investigate, you will find that DAP, PKR and PAS have certain local programs. And they are now a potent force to provide checks and balances on the government. Lim Kit Siang has been punching several levels above the weight of DAP in Parliament to bring the concerns of the people into the open. Anwar has been actively campaigning on a platform of justice and fairness for all, and has been the first opposition party to dare to demand for the scrapping of NEP and replace it with merit based system. DAP has come up with creative ideas about buying back highway concessions so that taxpayers do not have to continue to pay to the profits of these companies. DAP has further come up with ideas, in its alternative budget, on how oil money can best be utilised to lift our standards of education, and upgrade the human capital, as the foundation to make our economy more competitive. PKR has further spoken of free tertiary education for all, which will end once and for all the issue of unfair bumiputra quota where even 5A STPM achievers cannot find a place to do medicine.

The opposition parties are not in power. It is not possible for them to implement their proposed agenda without taxpayers funds. What voters need to do is to observe what the opposition parties have been doing for their creditbility. They have been nothing but consistent. DAP and PAS may disagree, but at least they dare to openly agree to disagree and focus on common agenda such as free and fair elections.

We may never know if for instance, Anwar can become a good PM, or Lim Guan Eng can become a good Chief Minister of Penang. But note that if the voters are able to topple an entrenched system that has been around for 50 years, what’s to stop them from bringing down Anwar or Lim Guan Eng come the next elections? And don’t forget that even if somehow, BN is to become opposition, they will likely be a far more formidable opposition compared with the small number of opposition we have today. They will want to pick on all the fault of the party in power because it is their job to do so. There is no incentive then for the current opposition to screw up because once they lose power, with their credibility in tatters, it will be difficult to rebuild that image again, unless all the leaders change.

For these reasons, there is every incentive to support the opposition no matter which party they are from, because clearly, BN is beyond redemption. The rakyat voted in the Badawi government with overwhelming majority back in 2004 because he promised all rounded reforms, denied to the rakyat during Mahathir times. But he has since squandered all the goodwill and political capital because he was busy building a dynasty for his son in law. The rakyat should make it known that there is a price to pay for broken promises.

There is also another reason to vote the opposition. BN does not need 2/3 majority to effectively run this country. Contrary to what BN claims, 2/3 majority in fact makes it easy for BN to abuse its powers, as absolute power corrupts absolutely. With 2/3 majority, BN can amend the Constitution, meaning they could technically turn Malaysia into a Republic by ridding of the institution of rulers, or for that matter, if they think politically expedient, turn Malaysia into an Islamic state, just as Mahathir and Najib have mentioned.

We only need to see how BN has abused the 2/3 majority by increasing the retirement age of Election Commission members, with the sole reason to ensure that the current Election Commission Chairman will favour BN in the coming elections. This Election Chairman has been caught telling the press that only BN can rule this country effectively. As the chairman of an independent commission dedicated to providing a free and fair electoral process, his admitted preference is truly shocking, for how could he now act as an impartial referee in a competition?

WHAT NEXT?

If you are convinced by now that your vote belongs to the opposition to bring about the much needed change that we need and deserve in our beloved country, you should now learn how to vote, and how to help the opposition observe potential electoral fraud. For such knowledge, I encourage you to visit the website of Bersih. Most important, should you decide to vote for the opposition, you must vote overwhelmingly by persuading your family members, neighbours and friends to do so. It is not good enough to have razor thin wins, because BN will still have means to turn the results around either by last minute injection of Postal Votes, or through a compliant Election Court. It would be even better if you could make some donations to the opposition parties as they are virtually going to be buried under BN spending, as well as help as polling agents etc… during the election day itself. And if you find this piece of writing useful, do help spread it around a little.

If you are not yet convinced, I urge you to keep an open mind and go to the internet and browse through articles and commentaries from Malaysia-Today or various blogs belonging to opposition MPs as well as other personalities in opposition. See for yourself that the disparate but vast number of people has the same idea, and that is BN is beyond redemption and they need to be taught a lesson. We must, as a friend of mine said, put the fear of God back in them so that they may serve us, and not to be served by us.

Posted by HIRO at 10:35