It is awesome to see the cluttered field of politicians (447 candidates) clamouring to serve the people of Sabah in the state election.
It is during such time that the politicians become visible traversing the nooks and corners of the state to meet the people.
Some on bended knees and others in cross-legged positions promising to alleviate the plight of the rural folk whose lives have remained uneventful and unchanged except during the campaign period when the politicians descend on the villages to regale them about the promised rosy future.
There are others who during the campaign period suddenly become maudlin, sharing the grief and sufferings of the destitute and dish out some alms to the peasants. A far cry when they are in office when they usually hold court and are oblivious to the existence of these people.
The campaign period is like Christmas season when Santa Claus sweeps through the land distributing gifts.
Unlike Santa who does it out of goodwill and bringing cheer and peace to fellow man and woman without expecting anything in return, these politicians in guise of altruism expect votes in return.
They promise infrastructure development, jobs, and a better life. Similar promises were made for the past 57 years, but the people remained poor.
They showcase the developments in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan but have a kind of amnesia when it comes to the stark contrast in Beaufort, Weston, Membangkut, Kota Belud, Kunak, Nabawan, Ranau and even Tamparuli.
Although one needs to balance between the pristine beauty of areas such as Kundasang, Tenom, Temparuli, Pantai Manis Papar, Pantai Nanamun in Kota Belud, they should nevertheless not be deprived of basic infrastructure such as electricity, continuous water supply, proper sewage disposal, tarred roads and bridges connecting villages separated by raging but sublime rivers.
This is currently lacking, as these places have only minimal facilities.
Thus, come election time, the politicians will regale the folks with the recurring development mantra that has been chanted at every election campaign.
The Sabah election brings to the fore the good, the bad and the ugly.
It is a stage where actors of various emotional and materialistic dispositions strut around to regale the audience (electorates) with tales that portray the illusion of reality, confusing and distracting the unsuspecting audience.
This Sabah election is unique not only in the nature of overcrowded election candidates, but also in the characters that are involved in the campaign.
Convicted felon, politicians facing corruption charges, the snollygosters and those who out of political expediency have their charges dropped have joined in the election fray as candidates and campaigners.
In other countries, such people would have had the moral rectitude not to be involved because of their tainted reputation or they would have been barred altogether.
But not so in Malaysia where ministers who flout the law do not have the moral fibre to resign, corrupted politicians have no remorse or conscience strutting around with a sense of impunity.
Worse still, they are mollycoddled by the unsuspecting electorate. In Malaysia, political expediency takes precedence over most things for politics regulates every facet of our lives in this country.
The whole election scenario is like a comedy of errors to beguile the docile and even gullible electorate.
This intense politicking is a game of power play by a mottled crowd of mostly self-serving politicians trying to subdue each other for power and material gains rather than to serve the people.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
