GE14

Another election is upon us. It is, we are told, to be on the 9^th May, 2018.

Plenty of time, then, to stand up and declare the policies promoted by each party.

Sadly, this will not happen.

The election here in Malaysia may have little impact on the rest of the World – especially in America where they believe that only their elections have global relevance, but it is important here.

The system is similar to the American elections in that the primary argument is an ad hominem one. The way to win is to discredit your opponent(s).

Also, like the American Presidential election, the media is closely controlled so that the ex-ruling party ensure that the only things you read and hear about the election are the things that they want you to hear and see.

The possibility of the other parties getting equal air-time in the media is zero. 

The newspapers, radio and television are tasked with saying only good things about the party that has been in power since 1957 and denigrating everyone else.

Are They Trying To Tell Us Something?

As far as policies go we really have little to go on. We are constantly told, “Vote BN,” but we are not told why.

The closest I can get to that is that only BN have experience of ruling the country. This is, of course, a specious argument. It has the same relevance as, “Vote BN because your father voted BN as did his father before him.”

Shades of the UK Labour Party!

The obvious answer is, naturally, that the opposing parties have tremendous experience of being the opposition in Parliament and so their knowledge of ruling the Nation will have been built up on that expertise.

Besides, how often have you heard about people not getting a job because they have insufficient experience? If nobody will employ them then they are unlikely to ever get a job in the first place from which to gain the necessary experience to be employed.

We strongly suspect that the DoJ in the US is watching this election very closely. Similarly, the main protagonist is desperate to win it. Both parties will view the result with similar feelings.

At the centre of this election should be the person from Kelantan known as Wan Emm Dibbi but it is unlikely that the bulk of the Kampung (Village) folk will grasp much of this. Many of the villages are without Internet access so they rely entirely on the media.

There has also been some gerrymandering that will, almost certainly, favour the ex-ruling party.

We have also seen a resurgence in the number of imported labourers on the construction sites around us. One wonders how they might figure in the election – if at all, of course.

Since I first came to Malaysia the value of the average pay packet has dropped considerably. The price of cars and housing has risen dramatically so as to be far out of the pocket of the average worker to the point where youngsters are not able to buy a house and a car can only be purchased with assistance from Daddy.

We said, many years ago in a conversation over tea in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, that if corruption continues as it is then Malaysia will rank amongst the worst, and poorest, of the African Nations.

This election could help steer the country away from that or, heaven forfend, plunge it into even worse straits.

We shall see on 10^thMay.