Know Your Rights!
I have been considering to start blogging about politics for a very long time. But have always been told that I need to be very careful in what I say or post on this blog as it might be classify as seditious. Anyway, whatever I post here is basically what I think and I will promise to read through the 1948 Sedition Act before I post anything.
Ok, on to my main agenda for this very first post. What actually caught my interests in politics was due to a friend of mine who have been nagging at me to register as a voter. I jokingly told him that, if I register as a voter I will be voting for the current government. He told me, he does not care who I vote for. But the most important thing is that I practice my rights as a Malaysian.
So not long after that, I went and register myself as a voter through another friend. And began to start reading the news on what has been happening in our country due to the fact of oil prices. After that, I found that I’ve been missing out a lot of things on what is actually happening in our country. 3 years ago, the only news I read about was only every Tuesday and Friday (They changed it to Saturday) about 1pm. Just click on the day and find out what I’ve been following faithfully over the past 11 years faithfully. I started out reading Borneo Post, The Star, then The Malaysian Insider, MalaysiaKini and a few more blogs, I only began to realised that instead of waiting twice a week for a WWE match. I can read WWE matches everyday here in Malaysia. You see the government whacking the opposition and vice versa, and their PayPerView would probably be during the time when you see them whacking each other again during the Parliament sittings. So yeah, for those haven’t start reading the newspaper I’ve pretty much gave you an idea what you are missing.
So one must wonder why is it important for one to vote during an election? Why would one even bother queing up just to put a small paper inside a box? You might think that no matter who wins, it will never make a difference. You’ll always think that, BN will always win no matter what. And voting for the opposition is a waste of time because all they do is bark, but does not bite. So why vote, when you pretty much know what the results are. Plus it’s only 1 vote only. What can 1 vote actually do to make a difference?
Well, 1 vote actually does make a difference. if there were 66 people who came out and vote during the Manek Urai by election, then because of that 66 votes the government would have taken back Manek Urai. But because of this 66 people said that their 1 vote will not make any difference because I’m just 1 vote only. But it’s because of that 1 vote, a bridge connecting Manek Urai will not materialiase. Whether they will do it or not, will be another question. But that goes to show how powerful is 1 vote during the General Election or any By Election.
Some may think that, voting for the government is a better choice because if the opposition do take over, they will start to fill their pockets first till they have enough. Whereby the current government is now being generous to develop the country because they have eaten enough already. A very good example why people are still skeptical in voting opposition is probably due to what has happened in Perak. You’ve got to admit that it just took 3 people to pretty much topple an opposition led government. Why? Well I believe everyone knows the story what has happened so no point mentioning all over again. Since it’s pretty much cooled off already, from where I’m looking at. It proves to show that people do have short memory, so I guess next General Election will be very interesting.
Someone once told me that the current government is doing a very good job at what they are right now. So I have no complaints, then I shouldn’t bother even voting. Because they will always win at the end of the day. As much as I want to tell that person I told you so, but I don’t know where he is right now. But coming out from the General Election 2008, you can see that the current goverment has already lost 2/3 of the majority. But only managed to secure a slight majority in order to stay in power. So if you think that the current government will always stay in power, well then you better think it over again.
But if you’re someone like me, who pretty much sit on the fence. And you don’t know who to vote for, then you are considered the most important voters throughout the whole Malaysia. Let me tell you why you are important. Basically the opposition and the current government already have their die hard supporters. But it’s because people like us, they are trying hard to campaign and win our votes. Sure you tend to get lots of goodies and promises during these campaign, but at the end of the day. You still have no idea on who to vote for, and that’s why in order to avoid this unnecessary stress you decided not to register and cast your votes.
Let me tell you my experience my when I cast my first ballot during the last General Election. I suddenly felt this great power enthrusted upon me. It was an AWESOME feeling, and it felt really good. Because the whole Malaysia is counting on my vote to see whoever win during the election. But who did I vote for? I went and vote for the opposition. Why in the world would I vote for the opposition? Well, basically this is my reasoning behind all of this. And hopefully this will pretty much gives you an idea who to vote for the next up coming election.
No doubt the government had did a lot for this country, but I feel that they could do even more. Not just by tearing down trees and make another flyover just to prevent traffic jams during rush hour. But rather, look at the people who are currently poor, oppressed and marginalised. But we still need to vote for the opposition to give them a check balance, and remind the government who are the real boss are.
So lets say during the next General Election, the opposition does win and managed to form the new government by then. Who do you vote for during the next General Election? Again, I will vote for the opposition party which would be BN by then and give them back the power. If everyone were to think that way, then they will know what they need to do in order to stay in power. By doing so, then a lot of things will change. For example all the arm forces will then have to be independant. And you would have top class arm forces will bust you whether you are government or opposition with no fear.
Anyway, these are only my personal opinions. But never the less. My challenge to all of you, who have not register to vote. Go ahead and register today, and make sure you’ll join the battle in the next Election. It doesn’t matter who you vote, government or opposition. What matter most is that you need to know your rights, and also make a difference in this country. So don’t just sit there and read this post. Go out there, get yourself registered and start to make a difference in this country. Have a nice day.
Filed Under: My Thoughts
