We know the Indonesian election date, but not ours

 

Political scientists, analysts and observers are all on overdrive writing opinion pieces about when the next general election is going to be held.

Some are punting that it is imminent and can be called within weeks, if not days. Others are predicting it to be later in the year, and yet a few are saying that it can be as far as the middle of next year.

But apparently, five guys from one political party, and not even the one with the largest representatives of our citizenry, will get together soon and determine when the rest of us get to cast our vote.

Five fellas who come from the joint second largest individual party in our current parliament, and whose leader is accused in court of 47 charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust, will be the ones to decide our fate.

How odd does this sound? And, we wonder what is wrong with our country?

Our neighbour Indonesia’s next presidential election is on Wednesday, Feb 14, 2024. Isn’t it absurd that Malaysians know the date of the Indonesian presidential elections, but at home, we have to wait for some ‘jamokes’ to surprise us with when we get to determine our future?

Someone I know remarked recently that Malaysia should actually build the proposed bridge between our country and Indonesia as fast as we can. With Indonesia’s rate of progress, both politically and socio-economically, soon many of us will be job-seeking in our neighbourhood and this bridge will make it easy for us to travel for work.

But I digress. Coming back to the election date, as much as the intelligentsia of Malaysia likes to make predictions and counter-predictions, it’s really a crapshoot.

For years now, and unfairly, those in power, control when a Malaysian general election is called. Usually, a multitude of ‘sweeteners’ will be dished out by our leaders before the impending call.

Cash handouts, a people-centric but not necessarily an economically sound national budget will be presented, and promises to build new schools, roads, health facilities will be made. And, rarely seen members of parliament will suddenly turn up in your constituency and randomly kiss babies.

A week ago, whilst doing some media work for a member of parliament at a public wet market, I had to laugh out loud when a vegetable seller candidly said to me that she knew the elections would be called soon. She said, every day some politician turns up at the market to distribute something and shake their hands.

Our current prime minister seems to be playing a cat and mouse game with his own people. He is one of the ‘top five’ who are set to determine the date. But he seems to be missing meetings, traveling, and postponing schedules.

One gets the feeling that he’s not really in a rush. It’s a shame for him that he might have the top job in the country, but he isn’t the supremo in his own party. So, eventually he has to ‘kowtow’ to more ‘important’ people in his circle.

Of course, political analysts will spin yarns about what the prime minister can, will and must do. But in reality, we all know that our politicians don’t really care about what political analysts say or for that matter, what we, the citizens, think and need.

They will do what is expedient for them.

We all saw this, 22 months after the last time we went out to cast our vote with great hope. Some rogues decided to spit on our faces and jumped to whoever could offer them a better deal for their political survival, and some commentators even alleged that they hopped for economic reasons.

While on this walkabout with the member of parliament, I also met an elderly gentleman who berated me, although I don’t know why, as I wasn’t canvassing for votes.

He was quite livid that he worked really hard in 2018. He said he queued up for hours, participated as an election observer, helped those who needed it, and proudly voted. Then in less than two years, the government he voted for, fell flat on its face.

He kept asking me why he should vote now. It was all a sham, he said.

The only retort I had for this angry ‘uncle’ was that we can’t stop voting because we are disappointed with the last round of results, and then lament about the state of the nation. I explained to him that if being let down by ‘the frogs’ in the past makes us not bother to go vote again, then we are simply disempowering ourselves.

I hope I convinced him to continue to exercise his right to vote.

But here is the thing. Our politicians like to ‘surprise’ us with the election date, and start by offering us ‘candy’, like kids, before deigning to call for the polls. Actually, for all intents and purposes, they ‘bribe’ us first, so we will vote for them.

This isn’t a newfound technique. They have been doing this forever. So, this round, we just don’t fall for this scam…lah.

As citizens, even though a fixed election date addresses the democratic deficit, and low turnout, as well as the cynicism we feel when we ponder about our politicians, we must learn to think critically.

The prime minister and his merry band of musketeers can call for elections whenever they want. What is vital is that we become informed and empowered to make decisions based on clear, reflective, and critical thought.

Malaysia needs saving, and ultimately it is only you and I who can be expected to do it. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.