election fraud? racial tensions?

Phantom voters and massive rigging of the elections could be a possible reason why Malaysian feel that it is foolish to think they can make a difference.. after all PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not have to call for elections so soon… he could wait till next year.. but its rumoured he did not want to give Anwar a chance to participate in the elections.

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister, has been barred from serving in a governmental position until April because of his conviction for corruption charges in 1998. He was convicted on possibly politically motivated charges and released in 2004.

Anwar cautioned for possible election fraud by the ruling coalition ‘We have produced evidence of massive rigging, phantom voters in every constituency. All this of course is evidence of fraud. It could be proven that there is massive rigging I don’t think it would bear well for the stability of the country.’

Another concern is the rising tensions between the different races in Malaysia.

Khairy Jamaluddin was quoted in The Star : “The (coming) general elections is not about politics but the future of the Malays.”

Did i read wrongly… or is he suggesting that the other races living in Malaysia do not matter as much as the future of the Malays?

It probably would not be a good idea to have someone who is seemingly insensitive towards the needs of the other races, who by the way are contributing to the economy of the country but not given credit for, on the governmental board..right?

The way I see it, the Malaysian elections have many obstacles to overcome.. can they convince the public that the voting is honest and fair.. and how are they going to pacify the people particularly the unhappy non-Malays so that we do not encounter a repeat of Operation Lalang?

Please vote wisely..

I was blogsurfing during class utilizing the links we set up at rotijalah to view Kenny Sia’s blog.. and i saw… THIS-

(do read his blog entry it is very interesting!)

I wanna add on to his point about how citizens are generally indecisive about who to vote for when it comes to elections.

According to Kenny, a lot of people don’t seem to be very interested in politics because

(a) They don’t care who’s in power
(b) They don’t think it’s important because BN is gonna win anyway
(c) They don’t know who to vote

He’s reasons are so apt and they apply not just in Malaysia, but in Singapore as well even if both countries have a different political scene in place.

Of course, point (b) applies more in Singapore since PAP wins majority of every elections..no matter how much people complain about MM Lee or the PAP, ultimately life is peaceful under the PAP’s governing so track record is important I guess.. ^-^

From personal experience, the PAP always conducts upgrading works and so on in order to ‘win the hearts of Singaporeans”..most Singaporeans I spoke to feel that it is a government ploy to garner votes during the critical period but they choose not to acknowledge it. I am not sure what is Malaysia doing so I shall not venture there…

Personally I think for the elections in Malaysia to go horribly wrong, points (a), (b) and (c) would have to work in tandem. It could be that people feel the BN is going to win no matter what hence they are not concerned to find about the elections hence they don’t know who to vote… eventually they will become indifferent to subsequent elections cos they don’t feel part of the nation anymore..

This is the one most undesirable consequence.. it is worst than electing a lousy government… so Malaysians out there reading this blog… please do take the time to read up and find out more about the different political parties! Read blogs, newspaper, forums, participate in online discussions.. HEAR different voices not just the campaign ones…

Learn to discern between the publicity stunts of the parties and the real information.. Please vote wisely Malaysians! Your future is at stake so choose a worthy political party to lead the country to greater heights!

disclaimer: this is not a political pitch for any party in particular. It is a general plea from concerned bloggers about the political situation in Malaysia.

picture adapted from: http://www.kennysia.com/