Recently, there was a news report on TV where some guy from SPR (Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya) was giving out stats about the alarming number of ‘warga belia’s who still haven’t registered themselves as voters yet despite the ton of effort and money the government have spent in encouraging so via cheesy, low-cost adverts aired on local broadcasting networks.
To qualify yourself as a voter, the rules are simple enough- the minimum age is 21 years old and you must be a Malaysian citizen. Anyone who is qualified is encouraged to register and uphold your rights in choosing the government upon which the party/candidate that gets the majority support wins and gains CONTROL (emphasis is given on the word ‘control’ which I will discuss further in this post).
Well enough with the facts which I suppose anyone should’ve known by now. Moving on to a more abstract topic, who should we choose to give power to? Let us look at the options we have served on our menu of ‘Malaysian politics’. Must I warn readers to keep an open mind while reading this post and that I am gifted at ignoring hate mails and derogatory comments with the utmost ease understanding the fact that only imbeciles would assume the role of a cyber-warrior and not meet me to have an open discussion. For starters, we have a classic, a dish so old that we have hung on to since the moment we started eating altogether. Let’s imagine this dish to be our very own pride-of-the-country ‘Nasi Lemak’. Many amongst us have cried foul all these years, claiming that we have been served the same nasi lemak for too long, that it does not taste as good as they were about 40 years ago, and a new revolution; a reformation is needed. Hopes and promises were made but the fact remains that even till now, we’re still being served with the same old dish on our platters day in and day out. On the other hand, we have an exotic competitor, a fusion dish, a mixture of ingredients composed of the most impossible of combinations imaginable. Imagine Nasi Lemak served with caviar and fondue. God bless the chef who even thought it. And so we have ourselves now a new challenge for our curious taste buds, an unexplored experience, a dish which at the same time is trying to keep itself together long enough to claim authority before it falls into pieces. Oh and must I remind everyone that one of the chefs is accused of bombing a Mongolian chick into smithereens and the other is accused of sticking his magic stick up another poor guys’ stinkhole? Anyone in their right mind could care less about getting themselves busy with the whole ballot casting process but yet we still see people strutting with pride and confidence to cast their votes with the belief that they are making the best decision. So now the question is, why do they feel that way?
The answer is simple enough, and it is called advertising. This is my whole point of writing this post anyway. The way I see it, politics and democracy brings with it a whole lot of advertising, even more than the advertisers themselves could handle thus leading to the hilarious finger pointing and self-praise we see and hear in the news daily. Each and every political party have their own agenda, their stance which specific communities and likeminded individuals could relate to.
Opposition parties claim that they fight for a change, that the current institutional government is corrupted and not capable of serving best to the interest of the people. They feed off the littlest discrepancies, constantly looking out for any faults and blowing it up in the biggest manner possible- that is their way of advertising. They stand independent without the backing of the media so they resort to websites and blogs which are among the most interesting things to read whenever one is bored to death and searching for a good laugh. The government on the other hand have the advantage of the local news stations and other means of media which in the end results to the endless daily reminders of how much have they done for us and etc.
Now with the entire hullabaloo going on, what I find is that these two opposing forces (Thank God we only have 2 major ones so far, add another and things will be way beyond scrambled) are fighting for only one thing and that is to be the ruling party of this country. Their fight is revolved around their stance and that is how they gained supporters in the first place, but based on evaluations made from a neutral point of view, the post and power to rule is the main agenda for any party. Because if any party wants to do good for the nation, then the best path to choose is cooperation and assimilation, the adoption and implementation of the ideas which brings the most benefit for the nation, not the endless claims that their act is right and their enemies are wrong. Ever heard of the game of party switcheroo lately? They may call it as leaving the bad basket and joining the good one but why wait till you are despised by the other members to finally decide in public that you made a mistake in fighting for the wrong cause all these years? There are so many other key points which I could put forth for example oil prices, scholarships, religious issues etc (further elaboration would make the task of reading this post even more tiring than it already is) but like I said, the primary objective is control, and only
control with the added perks of wealth and fame.
In the end, all of it depends on the advertising. Sell your product well and the people will buy it. improvisation, both to market and save your skin is another factor too. But do have in mind that people these days lack the reasoning skills and their decisions have been planted in their minds since day one by their parents. Let’s face it, youths today show support for a certain political coalition only because their parents do to. And that is the biggest danger our youth is facing today. Only a handful of youths today are able to see through the wall build by their elders and decide independently, free from a biased upbringing and surrounding. For me, shameless to say, I would rather not choose any. Call me ignorant if you will but I still don’t see any party worth gaining my vote for the time being. cheers =)
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