Come On, Young Malaysians

there are a few things about the upcoming elections that have been weighing on my mind lately. quite disturbing things, actually. i’m glad to finally have the time to sit down and blog about them. so here goes.

1. Indifferent Young Malaysians
i recently read a blog post about the elections, centered around the racist politics of BN. many of the responding comments on this post were along the lines of, ‘we can’t change things, so migrate only lah!’, and ’sigh politics sucks. i don’t want to get involved’, and these were coming from teenagers my age or younger. the most unsettling comment was from a young girl who said ‘i hate this controversy and i’m glad i’m too young to vote’.

comments like that one disturb me. what kind of education are we putting our young people through if they can say things like they’re glad to not be able to vote? i remember one particular comment in this post i wrote, also by a young girl, who pretty much said that i shouldn’t have written that post because the world is already so full of anger. so… what does that mean? if injustices happen, we’re supposed to ignore them in the name of harmony? i am reminded of all the paragraphs in my Sejarah and Moral textbooks where rakyat bukan Melayu tidak harus menyoalkan hak istimewa kaum Melayu supaya tidak menimbulkan perasaan tidak selesa antara kaum. (non-Malays should not question the special rights of Malays in order to maintain harmony between races)

i am reminded of how our Sejarah teachers make us memorize this tripe and never once tell us that we shouldn’t subscribe to this sort of doctrine if we want to progress as a people and a nation. i am reminded of how before each exam, i’d be cramming sentences like these into my head, and then writing them out in essays during the exam, always accepting such statements, only caring about whether i’ll get 10/10 for the essay, never really thinking about the meaning behind what i’m writing. that’s the problem with us young Malaysians. we never think. either because we’re lazy, or we’re trained from the start to think that speaking up for what’s right, and ‘controversy’ (hah), is bad and will contribute to bloody events like … jengjengjeng … May 13. please lah okay. read up on the history of May 13 and decide for yourself what it means, before you allow your Sejarah textbook to tell you what to think.

don’t be afraid just because MPs like BN’s Chew Mei Fun can say ridiculous things like - May 13 will happen again if BN is given insufficient representation. how dare she hold people at ransom like that. how dare she. people of PJ Utara, i urge you to remember the audacity of her threat when you are casting your vote on the 8th of March.

and how can young malaysians say that they are glad not to vote. this is completely beyond me and i am so disappointed in my fellow young malaysians. why are we being yes-men, and playing into the hands of this regime who are out to exploit the hell out of us?

you know what else is completely beyond me? i hate how people complain and complain and complain about the government and status quo, but then when you ask them if they’re registered to vote, they say no they’re not. why? lazy lah… one vote doesnt matter lah… no time lah… BN will win anyway lah… want to boycott electoral system lah… i give up on local politics lah.. and many more other incredulous statements. aiyo don’t be like that lah okay. the word hypocrite comes to mind. if you want change, be part of the change. don’t sit around and be an empty vessel full of hot air.

2. Khairy Jamaluddin vs Chegubard in Rembau
someone i know wrote a blogpost about how she’d vote for BN’s Khairy Jamaluddin over PKR’s Badrul H Shaharin (aka Chegubard) any day. she’s apparently part of Khairy’s campaign trail over in Rembau (where he’s contesting for the parliamentary seat), and her post was about her first hand account of how hardworking and articulate and smart Khairy is compared to Chegubard. and that Chegubard’s team played dirty like tearing down posters etc. for these reasons, she said she would vote for Khairy and that she has lost respect for PKR.

this is beyond shocking okay. things like tearing down posters and smear campaigns are so common during elections, but if dirty pool is supposed to be the tipping point in a person’s voting decision, then i daresay BN plays harder and dirtier than the opposition ever has. they practically control the entire elections machinery, and that is the BIGGEST form of dirty pool one can point out. remember Ijok, Machap? phantom voters? 100+ year old voters and 8 year old voters on the electoral roll? people finding out after some checking that they’ve supposedly voted in different constituencies? amendment of constitution to ensure the corrupt EC chairman retains his position? reckless gerrymandering (dividing voting districts unfairly) to ensure BN victories?

all these and more handicap the opposition parties. they cant even voice out their messages through mainstream media because all the broadcasting stations and newspapers are BN-controlled. and now BN is encroaching on the internet as well, taking out expensive ads on MSN and Yahoo. and with the tagline Vote for Malaysia? are you KIDDING me ah? what an insult to our intelligence.

yet in light of all this unfairness, PKR is condemned for tearing down a bunch of posters and the Rembau Menanti Anda campaign. no, it’s not the cleanest thing to do, but it’s fighting fire with fire and the only way to gain some traction in this BN-controlled system.

and so what if Khairy is hardworking articulate blablabla. EVERYONE is hardworking during elections. everyone gives false promises, empty rhetoric… Khairy’s father-in-law aka our Prime Minister Pak Lah is a fine example. combating corruption was his manifesto in 2004, but what improvement do you see so far? how ironic that we now find out that the Anti Corruption Agency is perhaps the most corrupt body in our government. and now 4 years later, Pak Lah says he needs more time to carry out this promise. what is that but a flimsy packaging for ‘I failed, but please give me your votes once again’?

Khairy is no angel lah. yes yes articulate… yes yes Oxford graduate.. but that means shit if you are a blatant racist and a nepotist. remember how he played to the UMNO gallery by saying that ‘UMNO must be strong otherwise the Malaysian Chinese will take advantage’? what the hell is ‘taking advantage’?!?! he later goes on to give examples of how this means that the Chinese will assert demands to benefit the Chinese community if UMNO is weak. hello? do you really want to vote in this character who believes that the Chinese community should not be given benefits and cannot even VOICE these demands? do you really want to vote into parliament this conniving racist who thinks that only Malays and UMNO have the right to be happy in this country? do you really want to vote in someone who thinks that a community asking for fairness is ‘taking advantage’ of a supposedly more ’superior’ race?

let’s not forget that infamous ECM Libra Ave incident where Khairy was SO PROUD to say that he would sell his shares worth RM 10 million ONLY to a Malay-owned company. racist racist racist and such obvious fanning of Malay semangat. so what if you are well-read and eloquent? you’re still greedy, corrupt and perpetuating the biggest problem Malaysia faces. the rest of Malaysia does not buy your empty election-time rhetoric. OF COURSE Khairy is going to be hardworking… getting into Parliament is just another step to take over the premiership reigns from dear ol FIL. this election is a boat that he cannot afford to miss. so it’s hardly impressive that he’s staying out till late at night to berceramah to the people.

i would NEVER ever vote for Khairy if he stood in my constituency. even if he’s a nice and sweet individual or whatever, i would never vote for someone who subscribed to the policies of UMNO Youth. yes, in Malaysia it is so unavoidable to vote along party lines. it is the only way to cleanse the system. so, one state assemblyman or MP may be more experienced or kinder looking than the other .. but at the end of the day he is still a part of a corrupt and insecure regime; a corrupt and insecure regime that you are putting into Cabinet and Parliament with your vote. what is MCA but castrated. what is MIC but helpless.

and what is UMNO? by the words of Chief Minister of Melaka - UMNO is unsinkable and even God cannot sink it. LOL. this is the party you are voting in if you vote Khairy into Parliament. i once saw the book titled - Khairy Jamaluddin, Bakal PM?. god forbid, ok? are our BN representatives so pathetic that people are enamored the moment they see a candidate who can speak good english and is articulate? articulate and hardworking people are a dime a dozen lah… but they are all studying and working abroad because MALAYSIA DROVE THEM AWAY.

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only these 2 issues for now. i’ve got another 3 more to go but have no time, sigh :( meanwhile, would love to hear any comments that you guys have on these two issues.

8th of march 8th of march 8th of march. i’m really, really, really excited.

111 comments March 2nd, 2008