Now That Bersih Is Over, What's Next To Do?

I have been listening to many people talking about things post 9 July with many sharing their stories and experiences about the event, many groused at the mishandling and brutality of the police doing their duty in their day and of course the government's constant state of denial of the mistreatment of detainees and contradicting claims to witness testimony over the raid at hospital or BERSIH was given the opportunity but not squandered it, and many things to say.

Of course, I understand that as part of keeping the spirit of the fateful day, there will be those flash campaigns like wearing yellow, meeting up for impromptu chat and meals and of course candlelight vigils for the 6 PSM party members who are still being held in the EO ordinance. From what I understand, the vigils will be on until the hearing of the habeas corpus on 22 July (next Thursday).

To this day, the state of denial strategy is still being played by the government in order to satisfy the curiosity of the simple-minded people, particularly those in the rural area. Manufacturing consent is still the key in getting those kind of people in supporting the present government in spite of clear cut evidence of mismanagement and constant backstabbing over one another.

Yes, I do agree that flash campaigns, talk over meals and vigils do play a part in keeping things going on. However I opined that this is more or less a short-term work. But where is the long-term goal to keep this on? There's one thing to know is that from what I listened during a forum with Bersih and the EC in Petaling Jaya earlier of the year, reforms in the present system will be very hard, under the present laws, because most proposals will be in the mercy of the cabinet who decides whether it's a yes or no.

Chances are no likely because surely a level playing field would be disastrous for Barisan Nasional to maintain their win by dirt way. As many of us agreed that if on a level playing field in 2008, Barisan Nasional would become the opposition coalition instead of the ruling coalition. Many, particularly those die-hards would definitely scream this as a loss of political power of the Malays, blah..blah.blah and all sorts of excuses to say that only BN can run Malaysia.

That's the present situation right now.

I've seen many people on tweets, Facebook and on the street, particularly the young ones ranting about Bersih, ranting about the need to revamp the elections, fraud corrupt practices by politicians and so forth. Ranting alone will not take you far enough. What's really next to do, on the long-term go is to turn the rants of a people into the vote into the ballot box. That is one sheet of paper, place an X on the party you want to select and just put it into the box. It's just a plain 10-15 minute job that is done once every 5 years.

Sure, many have read and heard that if there are another 400 000 votes in 2008, there would be more PR MPs than the existing numbers they have. I suppose that I do not need to repeat the same points mentioned by other people as well.

Under the present game rules, there is no automatic voter registration, so people may not realize that when you hit 21 years old, you can already have the right to cast a vote into the ballot box. So recently, there have been numerous voter registration exercises to get more people to become voters. Actually, waiting for roadshows like this is WRONG. You do not wait. What you have to do is that the moment you hit 21 or you realize you didn't vote at all, go and barge into a post office or best of the state EC office and tell a personnel there that you want to register. Ask them when can you be under the electoral poll.

You don't know where the state EC office is, please use Google and do some searching. That's what modern information technology is all about. It's also about using your own brain to think and not do anything. I tweeted earlier of the day in response to someone that when I reached 21, I went straight to the state EC office to register and 1 month later, my name is in the electoral roll. Signing at roadshows will take longer, if you understand what I believe.

The present rules can be unfair to some quarters but with the numbers it is possible to overcome the disadvantages in the game. Sometimes one vote can determine the outcome of a contest. For example in Pengkalan, Perak, the margin of win was only merely 18 people.

That's the first long-term thing. It's your ethic and behavior that dictates what has to be done in the case above. The other one, the second long-term thing is to make your folks and friends realize their mistakes. They may not understand the implications but the effect is on their children, grandchildren and so forth...in issues like inflation, can't buy houses, brain drain, etc.. Sometimes a nudge or an insult to those who won't believe it is necessary to get them to realize their mistakes of making the wrong decision. Maybe it's their fear of repercussions that influence their thinking but in the end, it's all bullshit.

That's the second long-term goal, if real reforms to the election system is to be implemented.

- A Little Taffer's Room