- Mar 21,2008
- In: Nation Madness
Are people retracting their votes in Lembah Pantai?
Since our general elections two weeks ago, I keep getting the vibe that although we had wanted to give our current government “a good hard kick”, the kick was a little bit too hard with the opposition winning 5 state governments and gaining 80+ parliament seats. It’s good to get more of a voice in parliament. After all, I have been less than impressed with what’s been happening in the parliament over the last 4-5 years - come on, they discuss bow ties and parade their latest fashions there! I’m surprised that didn’t make it’s way to Yahoo!’s Odd News Section… after all, we’re a staple feature in that news section.
Anyway, the point is, a few days after the elections, a lot of my friends shared their uncertainty of the new line-up. Although they wanted to shake up the status quo they didn’t expect to shake it up so much. It’s more of an “oops, what have we done?” kind of feeling. What the opposition wanted was for more seats in the state governments and parliament… so that they could continue pointing fingers and blaming the ruling coalition for what a “bad” job they were doing but now, the buck’s been handed to them and they’ll have to walk the talk and it ain’t easy. Screaming, judging and condemning from the sidelines is always easy. And it is evident that the opposition and the ruling parties had no idea what to do idea after winning and losing respectively… they had to get themselves organised and since then there’s been lots of squabbling. Rightly so. After all, the old guns, who’ve had their jobs for 20+ years were suddenly kicked to the curb, in shock and humiliation. Their legacy has been destroyed.
Anyway, I came upon these two posts today - “Why Sharizat shouldn’t have lost,” and “Shahrizat didn’t deserve to lose“. I voted in Lembah Pantai. Oh well, whatever’s done is done. We’ll feel the loss soon enough.
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Comments: 4 comments
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Ijoke
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 am
Nah, Penang seems to off to a good administrative start - open tenders, review of dubious projects, revamping police procedures.
The Mak Bedahs made an excellent point abt Shahrizat - she might be a “good” person, but she is being cowed by the ruthless people in BN. She is powerless to make any lasting meaningful change, except for little things. Build more low-cost flats? Should have been done long time ago, why only now. And that’s not the solution - the logical solution would be to provide educational and economic opportunies so the people DON’T have to live in low-cost flats. D’oh!!!!!!!!
Same thing with Chew Mei Fun. A lot of people say she does good work, in clearing drains and fixing lamps. But that’s the job of the local councils! We don’t need another person to fix the mistakes of an entire group. The people wanted a person who can make sure the council gets it right in the first place.
I think your assessment is not true. A lot of people are overjoyed at the elections results. Sure, the opposition might make some mistakes at first, they’re new. And you can be sure this evil BN will make things tough for them, eg witholding approvals or money. But still a lot of people are happy to give Barisan Rakyat the chance to develop themselves, rather than let the cancerous corrupts continue business as normal.
Ijoke
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
The Mak Bedahs also made a point that Shahrizat failed in her promise to upgrade the status of women meaningfully. In fact, she kept beating around the bush. And hinted that women will always be unequal in this country - which is an alarming and regressive attitude to take.
Melinda
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:55 am
If you voted in Lembah Pantai, you shouldn’t have second thoughts. Did you see the state of the school where you voted? Would you want your child to study there? Give the opposition a chance.
Sashi
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’m not retracting my vote. While I didn’t expect the result, I don’t regret it.
Loss? The only feeling of loss may be felt at Sharizat’s former Ministry. Not likely at Lembah Pantai.
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