GE13: Questions for first-timers, fence-sitters, the non-partisan — Chien Aun Koh
With the end of Bersih 3.0 rallies and the continue escalation of party politics for the looming GE13, the question I ask myself is what do we do next as citizens?
Attending the Bersih rally in KL was a no-brainer for me; despite claims of sabotage and political hijacking by various groups, its demands for clean and fair elections were something that I believe Malaysia deserves regardless of where we stood individually in terms of national policy, ethnicity or religion. All that was required of me for Bersih was to turn up and sit in the scorching sun for a few hours with the possible forecast of tear gas and chemical-laced water.
Voting however seems to be an entirely different ball game — one which seems to be utterly mired with the usual mud-slinging politicking and gutter politics that predictably feature in every election year. Personally identifying myself as non-partisan, this has led to a number of questions I’ve asked and tried to answer below:
Should I vote?
As mention above, Malaysians politics can be very dirty and more than once I’ve heard the remark “No one deserves my vote!” or “We’re really choosing the lesser of two evils,” from friends when asked who they would vote for. To an extent I agree that the quality of some of the candidates fielded are not always from the best nor the brightest of the lot (just listen to some of the comments our politicians make).
However, I’ve come to the conclusion that not to vote or to stage a protest by abstaining from voting as a form of protest at the shocking calibre of our candidates is really just as much a waste of that one vote if not more — during the last GE that translated into more than three million wasted votes, not counting spoiled ones.
By not voting in the end, I potentially stand to have a representative in Parliament whom I share no common interest with or detest utterly, regardless of my reasons for not voting. I can complain all I want but the die has been cast. Thus, I will vote. Which leads to the next question…
Who for or how should I vote?
Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/litee/sideviews/article/ge13-questions-for-first-timers-fence-sitters-the-non-partisan/
