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The PM announced the dissolution of the Parliament on Wednesday, 13th February 2008. In his speech, he invites all Malaysians to come forward and do their responsibility in this coming general election. His speech was good, simple and frank. That is a clear, fatherly advice and with open and fair invitation to all Malaysians to do the most important decision in their life.
At the same time there were a lot of talk and discussion about the unfairness of the government in calling for the snap election now as it will not give Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI) a chance to contest. There was also some comments that it is unfair to the Chinese. Honestly speaking, I find that there is no element of disrespect to anyone. I cannot understand the basis of this accusation. On the issue of DSAI not being allowed to contest because of the timing is rather unfortunate. Why then are people making a big fuss about this issue? After all this is politics. In politics, we must accept a fact that if DSAI was in the position of Pak Lah he would probably have done the same. I believe the PM has made a decision within his power and rights. He did not break any rules here. The Election Commission has already set the date for the election, which is 8th March.2008. While there is plenty of time for informal campaigns, there is also adequate time for the formal campaign period. I believe the date was chosen because of the school holidays since the schools are required as polling centres and the head masters are usually involved in the machinery. The rules of the game has been set though with some issues related to gerrymandering and the issue of unclean electoral rolls, which is not in favour of the opposition. However, I still believe that we should be able to see a better organised election this time around. I do hope the blunders that took place during the last general election will not take place again. If it does, not only Rashid must resign, the entire top echelon of SPR must also resign. As the election comes closer, I would like to call upon all Malaysians from all walks of life to carry on with their civic duties. They must choose. On many occasions, as in my previous writing, I had called on the readers to choose their candidates properly based on factual assessment rather than good looks, party logos, slogans, etc. Let me share with you on who is the candidate that will win my five-member family votes this year. The person that we are looking at must show a strong commitment to Malaysia where he would place the country above self. He must not be biased to any particular ethnic group. His campaign and his speeches must not favour one particular ethnic group or one religion or gender. He will address the people of this country as Malaysian and not Indian, Chinese, Malay, etc. If he chooses to campaign with an attitude of protecting the interests of certain racial groups, or depicts biasness against certain sexes, he will be out of my list. I am also particular about representatives who do not attend Parliamentary or State Assembly sessions. The candidates that are elected must be the type who will speak their minds in Parliament or the State Assembly without fear or favour. I am also against Representatives who try to become popular by belittling women and think that they can run certain government agencies with a wink of an eye like as if they own it. Should I vote liars? Hmmm, that is a tricky question, isn’t it? If they lie about big issues like school fees and are unable to control their temper in the eyes of the media, I feel they are not suitable as Members of Parliament or leaders of this country. It is obvious they are not mature yet to vie for such positions. What about issues related to the Judiciary like the VK lingam saga? It appears that it was done with several intentions. Among others I believe it is to shut the mouth of Tun Dr Mahathir. Indeed, he has been very quiet of late. If ever the issue comes about, the present government will just point a finger to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. They must not forget too, that when we point one finger to others, three fingers point back at you. Should the blame fall on one person or the entire syndicate of people with power? I believe this is a group effort and this factor must also be considered. It is quite obvious that it was done to protect the interest of one particular group of people with one common membership to an organisation. The Lingam saga has created a serious doubt on the independence of the judiciary especially in the light of the testimony by his for secretary at the RCI. If the police, BPR, and courts are not independent, then how and where do we the public go to seek redress to address our problems? In the last five years, we had several projects that have had severe cost overruns. The Singapore bridge issue is a big deal to some while others think otherwise. While scrapping the crooked bridge showed Malaysia’s weaknesses, it was also a great financial lost to Malaysia. We seem to be repeating such financial loses quite too often. We should recall MRR2 cracks and closure. The landslides, development projects in sensitive areas in Ulu Klang and Bukit Antarabangsa and also the floods in TTDI/Shah Alam due to unplanned and bad forest management. This reflects the quality of planning and work of the ruling government. In 2006, a minister was sent to China to apologize to the Chinese government over the issue of stripping a Chinese National in the police station lock-up. Not only we realised later that the woman was a Malaysian Citizen of Malay ethnic origin, but the fact that we panicked and immediately sent a minister to explain to a foreign government showed our weakness. This showed beyond all doubts that the present BN Government is weak and panicked to the extent that they jumped to conclusions before even knowing the proper facts. No wonder Tun MM says the present leadership has no balls. People have often asked me, how we evaluate the political parties in the opposition? Honestly it is quite difficult because the present government has never given the opposition parties the opportunity to present themselves decently in our media such as the RTM except perhaps if it is a negative report. Therefore it is easier to assess the incumbent than the opposition. In parliament, we can see how the opposition is called bodoh, babi and are even jeered at by the Government MPs. Sometimes I wonder if these people are our elected Honorable MPs of the ruling party or monkeys from the zoo. When I see Theresa Kok asking some intelligent questions, the government MPs would jeer and belittle her. Even the fact that she is unmarried was made an issue. This is simply embarrassing. I believe it is the role of the opposition to bring to light the issues like that of VK Lingam which shows how our judiciary is compromised in terms of integrity. All we need is one bad apple and the whole crate is thrown away. I find that the Chinese community is smart. They are concerned about their mother-tongue education and because of this they compromise and balance their votes. Every time there is an election, the government will dish out several million dollars for the Chinese schools just to win their votes. When they feel they need more votes from the Chinese community, they launch programs in new villages and give title deeds to Chinese farmers etc. So far this strategy works well with the Chinese. The same cannot be said about the Indians and the Malays who in my general assessment tend to vote according to colour, religion, party flags, etc. Having said so many things, I would like to make a wish list and hope it will succeed. Some people say that my family’s five votes are not significant. Nevertheless, I feel it is important that every one knows, what my family and I want. Here is my list: A. Improve the government machinery and make it serve all Malaysians irrespective of their colour or creed. B. Make the Judiciary, ACA , Army, Public Accounts Committee and the Police, independent where the appointment of these office bearers as well as their reporting structure does not go to the Excutive. Better still it reports to the head of the opposition and the appointments are all done by the DYMM YDP Agong. If the reporting is done to the opposition head, then the chances of abuse will be much less. C. I hope the ruling party will allow the elected members to decide on issues being tabled in Parliament and State Assemblies to do so without fear or without being subjected to any Party whip. They are elected as individuals and as such they must be given the freedom to speak their mind. D. Treat all Malaysian equally. E. Improve the income of the Government Revenue by 30% and reduce the wastages equally by 30%. F. Show no fear to foreign Governments. Do a lot of research. Build a bridge to replace the Causeway. G. Help to reduce the cost of living of Malaysians. H. The Election Commission will conduct this General Election in a fair, clean and in a matured manner without any mudslinging. It must be conducted in fairness to all candidates. I sincerely hope that there will be no violent public demonstrations. I think this ‘wish list’ should be sufficient for now. I wish the contestant the best, in winning my votes. Thank you. Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan bin Abdul Rahman MD MMed ( OM ) MBA (IT) Dip Ae Med CTM AME (17) www.rights2write.wordpress.com
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