Just another citizen's blog

I wanted to give Azalina and the secret online snoops another blog to spy on - so here it is!

This blog's purpose is to record my impressions of the 12th Malaysian General Election. As a Malaysian living overseas, who is neither a government employee, full-time student, nor spouse of either one, I CANNOT VOTE. Voting is a fundamental right of every citizen in a democratic country, so what does it say about Malaysia when it deprives millions of its overseas citizens this right?

The reasoning is simple. Government employees are generally pro-government. Full-time students are mostly overseas courtesy of government scholarships and loans. I suppose the government is counting on some degree of indebtedness by granting these groups the right to vote. But whatever reason one has for not living in Malaysia, chances of being exposed to what is considered "anti" government news and opinion increases significantly. No more being fed news from RTM! No more reading the spin from Berita Harian and NST! A large voting bloc that is potentially pro-opposition is something the government has been crafty enough to avoid.

A recent Malaysiakini article estimated that 90% of postal ballots are cast for the ruling Barisan Nasional. This is courtesy of the police and armed forces who typically use this method of balloting. The various blogs I have read expose the extreme ignorance of Malaysian embassies and consulates when it comes to casting postal ballots for ordinary citizens. Perhaps the reasoning is, if the embassy front-line workers have no clue what the procedure is, they cannot educate those citizens who bother to call and ask, and therefore chances are good that those citizens will just give up and go away. It has taken a lot of persistent students to uncover what they have to do to have a chance at voting.

So what to do if you can't vote? As they say, money talks. I've donated to http://www.jeffooi.com/ and http://www.anwaribrahim.com/ . Each has gotten a tiny amount of what they need to campaign against the coffers of the BN juggernaut, but at least I feel like I'm doing something. Now I wish http://www.chegubard.blogspot.com/ would accept online donations as well. Anyone who's going up against the great KJ deserves all the help in the world!