Yet Another Election Day Update
I had to go on MC today, cuti sakit.
Sakit apa?
Sakit hati
So, unlike Khalil, I have neither 'done my duty' nor do I feel very contented.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not such a rabid political animal that a landslide victory/loss by any one party in Malaysia is enough to send me to my bed. I mean, it's not like we didn't expect it, right? Even in Kelantan and Terengganu, you just *knew* that the intrepid Kelantanese and Terengganu-ites might just give Pak Lah a chance. I'm not going to elucidate on this, since a Kelantanese can do so much better.
What's gotten my proverbial goat around its proverbial balls however, is observing the exact way in which democracy is practiced in Malaysia.
It's observing that elections are (surprise, surprise) free, but still has a long way to go to being fair. This is to be expected of course. What do you think happens when one party has seemingly endless amounts of funds to spend on ad campaigns, leaflets, free meals, caps, "zip-up vests", wrist-bands, pondok panas ad infinitum whilst others have barely enough money to print leaflets?
What I'm so angry about is the fact that the mainstream Press in this country have taken it upon themselves to be the voice of one, and only one, main party. As if it wasn't bad enough that they only chose to place reporters at the headquarters of that one main party (well, to be fair, kalau pergi tempat lain takut kena pukul pulak kan?), their commentators simply could not resist displaying their glee at the results. Excuse me, but I thought any self-respective journo knows that a cardinal rule of journalism is impartiality?
And I don't think statements such as "Parti Kita" or "berita baik" when referring to the party in question or its win in a constituency exactly displays that impartiality.
Plus, you have the Chairman of BERNAMA giving out statements such as "It's good to see that Hadi Awang is accepting defeat so graciously...let's just hope that dia tak kacau orang yang dah menang' Erm... have you not heard of checks and balances my friend? Where did you learn political science? Nazi Germany?
And there's more- such as the Vice Chancellor of our premier university absolutely gloating whenever "Parti Kita" menang. I suppose even academic objectivity has to give way to personal ambitions.
We seemed to have had elections, but I found it difficult to find where democracy fitted in.
I apologize for this incoherent rant. It is just completely frustrating to see the country you love behaving so badly. And I'm not talking abuot playing "The Final Countdown" underneath strobe lights to celebrate your election victory, either.
nads went at 14:31