Malaysia will be holding its 12th general election this coming Saturday (March 8) and I’ll be casting my ballot for the opposition party—whoever it may be PKR candidate, Hee Loy Sian. Here are my five reasons why:
- I still see buses, lorries, trucks and other heavy machinery on our residential roads spewing thick black exhaust with impunity. I want to see stricter regulation on emissions for all vehicles because I don’t want petroleum by-products in my lungs.
- Roads around Petaling Jaya are still riddled with hazardous potholes and ditches. The long running joke of having resurfaced roads prior to elections no longer applies here. The turn-round time for these roads to deteriorate back to their rally-like state happens quickly due to the above mentioned heavy machinery using these roads. Oh, and the constant layer-cake resurfacing technique has turned manholes into potholes, so it’s all not really helping the situation. I want better manage roads—and since I’m wishing, it wouldn’t hurt to have all our roads more pedestrian friendly either.
- The food court in the building where I work is called the gas-chamber by my peers because it’s a smoking area. They have a small no smoking room for the minority—very considerate. I’m also quite sure the toilets in our building are designated no smoking areas but the smokers don’t care because they are the majority after all. KL Sentral is definitely a huge designated no smoking area—but only inside. Which makes everywhere outside the terminal a designated smoking area, which once more, our fag loving majority utilizes fully—usually huffing and puffing away in clusters around all the entrances. All this makes being a non-smoker in Malaysia a moot point. We all might as well take up the habit, at least we’ll be inhaling our own filtered smoke. Just goes to show how serious our country’s anti-smoking campaigns really are. I want genuine anti-smoking initiatives and the culture of the non-smoking minority turned around.
- Our public transport system can be improved. I don’t want any more locally produced, cheaper cars. We need better taxis, buses and trains—most developed nations get this, why not us?
- Our internet is crap. Our neighbour can get 10Mbps in their home connection. The most we can get is 4Mbps. I want this gap closed.
There’s no doubt that the National Front will win this election again. Honestly, the opposition hasn’t impressed me either—not when their rallying mantra is “deny BN two-thirds majority”. That’s the best they can muster? Just aspire to be a political hindrance to the ruling party? That’s not really Change We Can Believe In is it?
So who are you voting for this coming election and why?
Deny 2/3 majority so that we can see how the BN and opposition perform for the next 4 to 5 years. If opposition continues to perform well and are able to form a coalition with united aspirations, then there is hope for a new government.
At the moment, we must not kid ourself that the opposition parties are big enough to form the government. It is a step by step process which they themselves acknowledge. They know their limitation in resources and machinery. Hence, they ask for 1/3 so that they can do the check and balance AND try to work together.
The BN politicians keep harping on the oppositions’ limited ambition just to deny 2/3 majority as a sign of weakness. We must not be deceived again to allow BN to achieve 2/3 because that would mean giving them the blank cheque to sign as they please for the next 4 to 5 years just like how they have been doing for the past 50 years.
It would be a very tough battle.. because we are playing in their field.. Its not a fair game.
BN will still win… hopefully the people don’t get punished for going against their “MASTERS”. Who’s the “government servant” in the end?
I am certain I didn’t vote to let somebody else control my life.
Does KL really have a smoking majority? I thought the same thing when I came to Japan. I thought at least 90% of Japanese smoked, but it’s actually a lot less (apparently). Around 40% for men, and less for women. It’s just that with little control, cigarette smoke manages to take up just about every little space around it. It only takes one smoker to ruin your meal at a restaurant. Or one guy riding his bicycle and puffing on a fag to annoy everyone he rides past. Here in Japan the smoking regulations are getting more strict, but so far I haven’t heard of anyone getting a fine for smoking in a non-smoking area.
Check out this site: http://www.who.int/tobacco/com.....s/wntd/en/ AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!