#21 GE13

So it’s finally here. The 13^th General Elections for Malaysia. Within the next 60 day, candidates will be chosen, campaigning will commence and at the end, a new government will be chosen. Or not.

It is probably one of the most anticipated elections in the short history of this country. Heck, I found out about it first from a Singaporean who called me immediately after he found out. Just goes to show how hotly anticipated it has been.

I remember posting about politics just a few weeks ago.

In the last election headed by Tun Abdullah the government won but only barely. 5 local states were won by the opposition and Government failed to win the two thirds majority in Parliament. In the one before that, also headed by Tun Abdullah the government won in a landslide. In fact, the biggest landslide it had ever won by. People said it was mostly from the feel good factor after Tun Mahathir retired. In the one before that (bare with me ok), we saw one of the most highly charged elections, with the Asian financial crisis looming large,  Anwar Ibrahim freshly thrown out of his No. 2 seat straight into jail and the Reformasi movement at its peak.

This time, we have Najib heading the Government into elections for the first time. You can definitely tell that things are different today that how it was in all the past elections.

 The government isn’t as popular as they used to be, that’s a given. They don’t have an iron grip on the propaganda battle field like they used to. Independent news portals, blogs and easily accessible international media reports have meant that voters of today have more sources and more sides to the same story to consider than they did in the past.

This has obviously not worked to the governments benefit given that most independent news sources seem to be pro-opposition despite their claims of neutrality. People believe unverified negative reports more readily than they do verified positive facts. Scandals, conspiracies and drama also make for a more interesting reads than boring economic and job statistics. I guess the Opposition has been much more effective in using these than the government. Not that the government was just going to take it without a fight. The last few months have seen a slew of sex scandals, corruption charges being made against opposition leaders too. It became a tit-for-tat mudslinging battle even before parliament was ever dissolved.

In some sense, this is good for the people. Mature democracies like the US rely on allegedly free and independent press to keep their politicians in check. One can always argue that there is no such thing as a truly free and independent press, but that’s for another post. At least with the presence of a ‘free-er’ press, politicians will try to keep their records as clean as possible, or cover their tracks better. Assuming that politicians chose the former over the latter, it raises the bar for political integrity in the country. If they chose the latter... well.. that's why we have jails right? In an ideal world, in trying to be the better candidate, politicians should be more concerned about keeping their record clean, rather than slinging mud at each other’s face. 

In other sense, it can also works against us. Freedom is always a double edge sword. A more vocal and free media also means that everyone and anyone has the freedom to say whatever they want, even if they are not true. Sure we're all entitled to have an opinion. But just because you have one, doesn't make it a good or valid one. Disgruntled people used to complain that a restricted media meant that we listened to lies from one party, the Government all the time. Well, a free-er media probably means we will now have to listen to 

 The burden falls back to us, the voters. It is up to us to try and sieve through all the lies, deceit and false allegations made by both sides and determine which is the better one. Or at least chose the lesser of two evils.

Whereas in the past, we could still claim that we were never truly given choice when it comes the government we could vote for, the same cannot be said today. The opposition of today has more well grounded momentum than they have before in the past, especially in urban areas. The idea of them forming government isn't as unlikely as it used to be. People seem to be a lot more politically aware (and opinionated) than I remember in the past.

There is also a new generation - my generation of young adults who will be voting for the first time. A generation that weren't around during the independence, social contracts and or riots from the 50's to 60s, nor the economic boom of the 70's to 80s. We were around during the 90's and the economic downturn. We were around during the turn of the millennium, when Malaysia slipped behind from being one of the tigers of ASEAN to the 'also ran', falling behind Indonesia and Thailand. But we were kids back then and didn't really have a say. 

Now that the time has come, we all have a chance to participate in making this decision. Do you believe in the current Government? Do you trust the Opposition? Who do you think has the nations interest at heart? Which is the one selling you popular lies and which one truly has the means to government?

Democracy has its own idiosyncrasies. The beauty of it is that everyone has a say. Every persons vote counts. But it also means that every persons vote counts, even the idiots. If you live in a society where the majority of people are level headed, intelligent and mature, democracy shines. But if you live if a country of filled with bird brains..*shivers* perhaps dictatorship isn't so bad after all. 

Maybe the bigger question this time isn't about what kind of candidates they are, but what kind of voter we are.