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Friday, April 6, 2012

Informed, not phoney, reasons work better


 
 
This too is not a very strong argument. It is very difficult for the Malaysian Parliament to be hung because there are only two major coalitions. It is unlikely that the seats will be so evenly distributed that it will be uncertain which group has the majority. It is also unlikely that there will be a situation where a king maker is required. We do not have a significant third political party. 
 
Azmi Sharom 
 
There have been two consistent arguments used by the Barisan to persuade the electorate to vote for them. The first and more popular claim is that we should vote for them because they have experience.

The experience argument is a risky one because it can so easily be used against you. I remember Corey Aquino, to the roar of thousands of yellow clad Filipinos, saying “They say I have no experience. Yes, I have no experience. No experience of corruption and no experience of stealing from the people.”

Experience is well and good but it is not the be all and end all.

It is a self-serving argument because in a system like ours, who has the most experience? Why, the Barisan of course. Fifty-four years of uninterrupted experience. If we use the experience argument, then the logical conclusion is that Barisan will never ever be voted out.

A rather odd democracy that will be.

Furthermore, even at the very lowly level of our place of work, far from the lofty heights of Parliament, we can see that the injection of fresh blood and new ideas may be the very thing that is needed.

I say this reluctantly as I have been working in the same place for 22 years and am now considered an old fogey with nothing to offer.

Besides, this idea that the Pakatan has no experience in governing is not that accurate anyway. They do. PAS has been in charge of Kelantan for decades, and since 2008, they have had Kedah while DAP has been governing Penang and PKR Selangor.

The claim that Barisan should make is that their opponents can’t govern well, not that they have no experience in governing.

In many ways, Malaysians are enjoying the ability to make informed choices for the next election, more so than we have had before.

Our sources of information have grown and with a bit of discernment there is much we can learn. However when it comes to actual governance and bread and butter issues, I tend to shy away from the press.

Instead I speak to people. I live in Selangor and I have friends and family in Penang and Kedah. It is not difficult to ask people how their lives have changed, or not, under a Pakatan government.

The second argument that I have heard from the Barisan that if we do not vote for them there is a danger of a hung Parliament.

The idea behind this argument is that there will be chaotic scenes in Parliament with the majority hanging on a knife’s edge. King makers will appear and whoever forms the government won’t have the strength that comes from a solid mandate.

This too is not a very strong argument. It is very difficult for the Malaysian Parliament to be hung because there are only two major coalitions. It is unlikely that the seats will be so evenly distributed that it will be uncertain which group has the majority. It is also unlikely that there will be a situation where a king maker is required. We do not have a significant third political party.

In the UK, there are the Liberal Democrats apart from the mighty Labour and Conservative parties. And for years they have been rather the laughing stock of the British political world, but recently they have been the deciding factor in the elections as neither Labour nor the Conservatives had a strong enough majority and an alliance with the third party was necessary.

Where is the third party in Malaysia that could spoil a straight two-way fight? Ibrahim Ali and Zaid Ibrahim? I don’t think so.

The point here is that there are many reasons to use to choose our next government.

However, experience and the phony fear of a hung parliament should not be amongst them.

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