Arrogant Barisan Has to Earn Voters’ Respect If It Wants Respect
Unlike a lot of people who have been making noise about Elizabeth Wong in the past week, I have a couple of links to Eli: I personally know her, and she is my representative in the Selangor state assembly. I have a real stake in what happens to her, and in how the present political crisis in Malaysia is resolved.
And I am mad as hell with what is going on right now. As far as I'm concerned, nearly all of the political machinations since the beginning of this year have done little but undermine the will and the fundamental democratic rights of the Malaysian people, and I've had quite enough of it.
My former Menteri Besar Khir Toyo thinks Eli ought to quit for having a boyfriend who—horror of horrors—has access to her apartment at night. That's not a crime. As far as moral offenses go, it might as well be a virtue. I'd much rather be represented by a politician whose only fault is trusting her boyfriend too much, instead of a politician who went on Malaysian television a few days ago to pour a heap of scorn on my rights as a Malaysian citizen.
There is a pattern to all that's been going on lately, and that pattern is pretty clear: most of our politicians, especially prominent leaders of Barisan Nasional, aren't very interested in protecting the rights and liberties of the citizens they supposedly serve. Look at the body language of the four katak Perak state reps at the press conference Barisan excitedly threw to welcome them—how many of them were actually excited about joining Barisan? Barisan's own politicians are not very keen on being a part of Barisan, and that is because unlike Barisan's top leadership, they understand that there will be a judgement day, and when that day comes, the Malaysian people will judge Barisan very harshly for what it has done.
