Cogito ergo scribo

I hardly blog about politics, and don't like doing so either. I do have my opinions in certain things, but i just hardly write about it because i do not think talking about it helps in any way. Moreover, i'm not a person who knows much about politics, and i hate politics anyway.

So, this is not gonna be a political post. It's just some of my random thoughts on the coming general election.

Was watching a Malaysian TV program last weekend about the impending election. There was this street interview asking the general public about their opinion on the candidates and such.

I can't remember which Johor town it was, but they interviewed this old uncle in a kopitium and he said something along the line "of course we should vote for MCA lah... got MCA then got Chinese primary schools" (“有馬華才有華小”).

Frankly, i felt like slapping him.

This goes to show how forgetful the electorate is, and how ignorant some Malaysian Chinese are, especially the older generation.

And sadly, mom is one of them.

As everyone knows, Johor is the stronghold of BN, and the opposition party with the strongest presence in most areas here is PAS. My mom expressed her concern when i told her that i'll vote for the opposition, no matter which party it is. And in my area, the opposition party is PAS. Then mom seemed to be disapprove of my opinion, as she's still looking at the whole situation from the perspective of race and religion.

I tried to explain to her that it's about the whole nation, about making the government realize that they have been doing a lousy job in running the country, that they have failed to deliver whatever they had promised and we won't be cheated again, that if they still don't get their act together, they will lose more and more support from the people. But i guess mom, just like some other Malaysian Chinese, failed to see this point, and hence easily fall into the BN's propaganda that the Chinese rights in this country will be protected only when they are in power.

Anyway, mom has never voted before and she's not gonna vote this time either. She hasn't registered herself as a voter. 贝 hasn't too. In fact, 贝 and i had talked to some colleagues, who claimed that they were not happy with the Malaysian government and yet they have not registered themselves as voters. Little boss was among these people. Just the other day he was casually criticising something about Malaysia, and i said to him, "since you are not voting, you have no rights to complain about the country."

I wonder if it's only Malaysia, or all other countries also require its citizens to register themselves before they can vote in the election. A Singaporean colleague told me that this procedure is not necessary; once you reach the legal age, you can cast your vote.

Oh, and i wonder too why do we need to hang all those election banners and streamers all over the place during election period? Do we seriously think that some people will cast their votes based on which party has the most banners and streamers on the streets? I just hope they remember to clean up their mess after the election.

Labels: malaysia, opinion