D-day is upon us. The day we have been waiting years for. At one point, we even began to wonder when exactly it would be! As Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak dallied and delayed calling for the dissolution of Parliament.
In fact many of us thought it would have been in 2012. Ah......but Najib is full of surprises. He does not want to go down in history as another Pak Lah......whose unofficial slogan is "Tidur lar.."
So he smacked his pinky lips and schemed. He had to make the rakyat go all gushy and warm. How?
$$$$$.......!!!! So he unleashed upon the nation the 'Politics of Goodies' He became our all year round father Christmas. Now stop for a minute and imagine Najib as Kris Kringle. Cannot? Haram....? OK never mind.
Basically Najib and his gang of strategist I imagine, left no sector of society out in their quest to dole out the goodies and secure the votes. Even the ones who didn't need it. Are Petronas staff poor? Will that one RM1,000 bring misty tears to their eyes, coz they can finally afford some Salmon?
#Bersih!
Thanks to Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and gang, the issue of electoral fraud began trending like never before. Even kindergarten kids began to understand what the 'yellow' was all about. Not royalty k, "Clean and Fair elections" repeat that like a mantra in your preferred language when you go to vote several hours from now.
You see in the last elections, yes the Tsunami of 2008, there was talk that the lights went out at some polling centres, some last minute ballot boxes were brought in....and then some unpopular candidates won by a slim margin.
This time around, Pakatan Rakyat are determined that they don't loose by such means, and the Bersih gang are even more determined.
The negative impact of this is that campaigning for GE13 started on a note of paranoia and distrust. To date two people who work for opposition candidates have been charged in court for padlocking ballot boxes.
Are they some kind of "samseng" or thugs. In my opinion, if there was no room for doubt in the way security around the ballot boxes were handled, these people would not have resorted to such drastic measures.
And then there's the issue of the indelible ink, stain remains...? Stain comes off...can go vote again...?
Allan and Indy of Comedy Court would have a field day re-enacting all this for their next show.
Oh, and those chartered flights, Were they ferrying true voters or.......all I know is that there was a scramble to explain it. And the explanation was rather lame!
Of bombs and thuggery
Whether GE13 results in a tsunami or no, it will be remembered for the thuggish behaviour of supporters from both sides of the political divide. Petrol bombs, damaged campaign vehicle, damage to operation centres, attempts to disrupt ceramahs - are some of the uglier aspects of GE13.
So what will happen? Will Najib's politics of goodies triumph at the polls. Will it really be "Ini Kalilah" for DAP and gang?
Will change come to Malaysia? Will the results be ho-ho-hum, nothing gained, nothing lost for both sides?
Whatever it be, let it be what is best for Malaysia. We are an amazing country folks, we deserve the best!!
However in the true spirit of democracy, there must be check and balance, by that I mean no single party must have free reign to do as they please. Like handing out money simply because they can.
Signing out folks, "Selamat mengundi!" Will be posting live updates on Twitter and Facebook, from my hotseat in the newsroom.
Comments