2 Responses

1. Med

   March 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

   1

   Hi,

   I disagree with you that Bersih and Hindraf will be rendered irrelevant just because the Opposition won big. Bersih’s demands were not met - no indelible ink, the electoral roll is still flawed, there was domestic postal voting, media access was still limited. These demands will be addressed in ou call for a Royal Commission on Electoral Reforms. Winning big in the GE does not mean the system was fair. Bersih will always push for fairer elections as a cornerstone of the democratic process. The big win simply means that the people were fed-up and wanted to teach BN a lesson. This was a very ‘emotional’ election but the message was sent loud and clear to BN. BN is outdated, thinking they can play the fear/race card and continue to bluff the rakyat. The rakyat is now no longer scared. The Oppo parties only have the state governments, not federal governments. If the govt keeps on doing what it does best (marginalising non-Malays esp indians), Hindraf will continue to stand up for poor Indians. Hindraf has a role to play as a check-and-balance agent. We all have a role to play if we want to see Malaysia prosper as a whole.

2. ashotiwoth

   March 10th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

   2

   Med - thank you for dropping by. let’s see what i found out from the Internet on the Bersih & Hindraf issue.

   From Wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersih), Bersih demands for the usage of permanent ink, cleaning of electoral roll, abolishment of postal voting and equal access to the media.

   the permanent ink was almost a reality if not for some unknown reason. i agree that there’s a lot to work on regarding the electoral roll - the EC could have work with the NRD to sync up the data - at least that’s where they could start to eliminate all those dead voters.

   while you may not agree on this, postal voting should still remained. Why? If no postal voting, the armed forces and the police force keeping our country safe could not exercise their rights. while their votes may be more towards the ruling party, but i’m not surprised as well if there’s votes for the opposition parties as well. you may argue why can’t the men-in-uniforms come to vote like normal people? if they do, who’s gonna watch our back? i may sound simple & shallow in this, but seriously, just leave them with what they do best - keeping us safe (although that may sound a bit corny).

   media access is something i hope everyone got equally of. with mainstream newspapers in the ruling government control, i guessed it’ll take bold newspaper editors to make that happen.

   on hindraf, i stand corrected. they have the hindraf adviser in the parliament, and more Indian MPs as well (compared to just a few in the last government) - thanks to the “wind of change”. so hindraf to me is a history.