What's the point of voting if voters' choices don't matter - Diana Danielle

 

Actress Diana Danielle has questioned the purpose of voting in an election if the voters' choices are not respected by politicians.

This is as politicians are free to realign their allegiances and form a government that was not elected by the people, she said.

"I reject (politics) because no matter who I vote, there's the backdoor, side door, rotating door, emergency door, and the Narnia closet filled with those I didn't vote for, taking over the government and letting hooligans in. 

"So what's the effing point?" she tweeted yesterday.

Diana (above) was responding to a tweet by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, in which he warned the people that rejecting politics means sacrificing the fate of Malaysian children to the whims of the corrupt.

Malaysia has undergone three changes in government in the last four years due to political coups and party hopping.

Putrajaya and the MPs are aiming to resolve the matter by introducing an anti-hopping law, which is due to be debated in Parliament later this month.

However, the law in its current proposed form would not prevent entire parties from changing allegiances, as was done by Bersatu during the Sheraton Move.

For Diana, who voted in the last election, the current political system will stay flawed by design.

Why progress can’t be achieved

"The system is deliberately made to stay flawed. To benefit the one percent who holds 99 percent of power. 

"It’s not just tweaking, it’s having to eradicate certain forces that have roots and shoots down the whole system," she said.

Diana also said that progress can't be achieved if those in power are allowed to get away with abuse.

"What progress can be made if those calling the shots sabotage and ruin the whole system of voting by then overriding it?" the actress said.

Critics of the country's electoral system have pointed out that one major flaw is the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, in which a majority above 50 percent is not needed to win seats, just whoever gets the most votes.

One of the special voting booths set up in Malacca for voters infected with Covid-19

This has, for example, benefited BN in the Malacca and Johor polls, where despite getting less than 45 percent of the popular vote, BN was able to win more than 66 percent of seats and form supermajorities in the two state governments.

This was due to multi-cornered fights splitting votes, and the result was that more than 60 percent of the voters are not adequately represented.

It should be noted that Pakatan Harapan also benefited from multi-cornered fights under FPTP, and formed the government in 2018 despite only winning 45.68 percent of the popular vote.

An electoral reform commission under the Harapan government had proposed replacing FPTP with proportional representation or a party-list system, which would ensure that those elected to the legislature are proportional to the number of votes they received.

However, this was never implemented and there appears to be no indication that those in Parliament now are interested in pushing for this in the near future - despite the 15th general election looming around the corner.

As for Diana, the celebrity appears to be completely disenfranchised by local politics, at least for now.

"I'm not looking for a second opinion - I'm stating why I'm done with politics as a nobody, a citizen with rights that were abused by those who weren't given the power by us voters. 

"So, personally I no longer care. If you still do, that's good on you," she said in response to a critic. - Mkini