They don’t want change, do they?
Those who voted for the party, by endorsing a lack of dignity, collaborated in diminishing the value of dignity. Unless and until the Malaysian electorate can uphold dignity, we will continue to be ruled by the less than dignified, those who will stoop to anything to ensure victory for themselves, those who will do that which is wrong and refuse to admit it.
By Kee Thuan Chye
The outcome of the Hulu Selangor by-election has been a great personal disappointment. As a layman, not a member of any political party but one who wants change, it’s clear that many of the people who voted last Sunday do not want change. And that frightens me.
In returning the parliamentary seat to Barisan Nasional, most of the Malay and Indian voters in the constituency seem to prefer remaining safely within their cocoon of ignorance about the reality of what is happening outside their kawasan. Many of them are mere rural yokels, city slickers might say, and therefore excused from wanting to see the larger picture.
Many, perhaps, are incapable of seeing the subterfuge behind the BN’s gargantuan effort to win their votes. They took the money, the bribes, the promises of development, and felt beholden to the giver: never mind that such bribery was a form of corruption; they became complicit.
Most Chinese voters rejected the old corrupt ways. More than 75 per cent of them voted for Pakatan Rakyat, advising one another to yong ngan thhai (open your eyes). Some rejected duit kotor handouts; others took the money and voted against the giver. They were aware of the larger world, of the legacy of lies and letdowns from more than 50 years of BN rule. Why weren’t the Malay and Indian voters as clued in?
Malay voters were worried about losing their rights, no doubt, after being bombarded with BN propaganda gushing from Utusan Malaysia and TV3.
Indian voters suffered from myopia and amnesia, the big Hindraf march of late 2007 expressing the frustration of more than 50 years of Indian marginalisation all but forgotten. They went for the short-term gains.
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