Election Fever

In less than 2 weeks, people from Malaysia will heading to the polls to decide who they will want to govern over them. On the way to work this morning, I could see that the streets were already filled with banners, flags and posters of the various parties that are contesting. Dark Blue, Light Blue, Green, and Red are the theme colors of the respective major parties running.

It's a good thing that I registered myself last year so that I can vote this round during the general elections. If you have also registered, and would to check your status, go here. This would be my first time voting, and strangely, I've never felt so 'involved' and 'empowered'. In the previous years, I was always just 'indifferent' towards politics in this country. Maybe its because I was younger back then, or maybe, and probably, I am just 'old' right now. Sigh.

Anyways, for some reason, I've got a feeling that the outcome of this coming elections will be much different that the previous one. I've heard many say that though they have voted for the major government the last round, they are changing their minds this time and will vote for the opposition. Will the BN lose its 95% dominance in the parliament? Who knows. I'm guessing that the reason why people are throwing their support to the opposition is because of the many controversial issues that happened in the past few years. From the government servant who could build himself a mansion to the suppression of the people's voice during rallies, the present government has failed to convince the people that they are FOR the people. The government has just shown that it's protecting itself, and it that way, prove that they are no longer listening to the people. Their attempts to silent the people's woes by bribing them with occasional freebies such as lowering road taxes to giving them a free holiday only show that they are interested in short term effects, rather than feasible long term solutions.

Will the opposition be better in running the country? Not necessarily. But I'm feeling that they can't do much worse than the present one. At least, if the major party is denied of the 95%, it will show that the people of Malaysia will not condone and support a complacent government. Winds of change is coming. Whether the wind will bring about changes of good and bad, I'm still unsure. But at least, we hope, and pray, that things will not remain the same.

I will be voting in the Subang Jaya constituent. Coincidentally, I discovered that an old friend of mine is running for the opposition in the same constituency. If her name is on the ballot, she can be sure to have my vote. If you're voting in Subang Jaya also, you can check out her blog at http://hannahyeoh.blogspot.com to learn more about her before you cast your vote.

Malaysia will decide on March 8th. Lets pray that the elected government will be a government that will be bring about good changes for the people.