Don’t blame the East Malaysians for your mistakes
(TMI) – Again, some people on this side of the country have been blaming Sabah and Sarawak for Barisan Nasional winning the election.
Someone on Facebook said this: “There must be some way to neutralise or get them out of equation. Peninsular people already voted BN out.”
A friend of mine chimed in with: “Why do the rural folks (who are also being oppressed although they may not fully realise it) think that a different regime will not meet their needs?”
My feelings, for once, can be neatly summarised in one picture.
Sadly my editor would not let me write my column in memes, so I must needs explain myself.
There is a historical precedent for why East Malaysia has its seat allotment. It was agreed that it would have one-third plus one of existing Parliamentary seats to assure that it would never be “bullied” or “neutralised.”
Even that agreement has been reneged upon as, thanks to gerrymandering, in actual fact, Sabah and Sarawak hold only a quarter of the vote.
It is extremely condescending to assume that what ails and concerns the rural voter or voters in East Malaysia are not as “important” as what keeps an urbanite up at night.
Just because my priorities are different from another person’s does not make them wrong and the same goes for the situation in Malaysia.
Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/dont-blame-the-east-malaysians-for-your-mistakes/
