The 15th General Election is around the corner, and suddenly, politicians are scrambling to serve the people as Members of Parliament.
At this juncture, the air is laden with the rhetoric of servitude to the people with nary a care for their own personal interests. This profusion of altruism elicits different reactions from different people.
Rural voters in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are easily overwhelmed by the outpouring of care and attention lavished upon them by prospective candidates during the campaign period. They are too trusting, and are thus, easily manipulated. Bags of rice, packets of sugar, and other basic necessities, as well as a few ringgit, are enough to win them over.
In Peninsular Malaysia, some politicians stoke fear among the rural voters using race, religion, and royalty.
In Sabah and Sarawak, these unscrupulous politicians fan the fire of provincialism and animosity against West Malaysians, with slogans like “Sarawak for Sarawakians” and “Sabah for Sabahans”. On the other hand, Peninsular Malaysia is for all.
The semi-urban and urban voters are well informed of the political situation and can evaluate as to which political parties and their leadership are qualified to form a corrupt-free and accountable government that would ensure the prosperity of the nation and the people.
But within these urban enclaves are die-hard party members who believe that their leaders are saints and can do no wrong. They will support the party, even though the party is corrupt, unethical, chauvinistic, or plunders the country’s coffers, for the leaders down the line and designated members know that if their party came into power, they would enjoy the spoils of political victory.
The last class of voters are the non-affiliated citizens and the youths who are the target of political parties, for they could tilt the balance in favour of, or against a candidate.
The politically mature section of this class will evaluate the track record of the political parties, their leaders and former MPs and the quality, character, and qualifications of the proposed candidates, and their ability to contribute to the development of the country and the wellbeing of the people.
The mature voters from this class will reject political parties with a record of power abuse, corruption, and the squandering of national coffers.
The youths, on the other hand, could be politically conscious or just oblivious and unconcerned about the political situation in the country.
The latter category of youths easily succumbs to overtures of gifts such as free petrol, bags of rice, sugar, and other necessities, and in some cases, cash handouts.
The politically conscious group will discharge their responsibilities ethically and morally and are not easily lured by monetary or other material gifts.
Thus, the youths could be a formidable group in determining the outcome of this election.
The behavioural pattern of politicians is like that of a chameleon, it changes with the surroundings. Most of them have several character facades, each for different occasions.
To their constituents, especially during the election campaigns, they transform into a kind and caring wakil rakyat or prospective candidate, whose mission in life is none other than to serve the constituents.
Another facade is exclusive to party cohorts where the politicians spew venom at those from different political parties.
For example, the politicians of a Malay-based party will use racial and/or religious slurs and sentiments to entrap their members into an unthinking and extremist bigoted mold, instead of opening their minds to view issues rationally. When engaging with a multi-racial group, these politicians mutate into liberal reformers, touting harmonious existence and inter-cultural and inter-religious understanding.
Then, there are politicians who are downright obnoxious.
For example, Pas praised DAP sky-high and bad-mouthed Umno to the extent of condemning them as kafir or infidel, when they were in Pakatan Rakyat with DAP.
Pas then changed its tune when it was with Umno in Muafakat Nasional, and ran down DAP.
Now in Perikatan Nasional, Pas is ridiculing both Umno and DAP.
One rarely encounters truly sincere politicians who live by the tenets of the oath they took as people’s representatives.
But in the early days, just before and after independence, we had politicians of such high calibre, and moral and ethical integrity in the form of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun V.T. Sambanthan, and Tun Tan Siew Sin, who dedicated their lives to serving the people.
However, today, politicians expect the people to sacrifice their lives to serve them.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad episode and other scandals involving the procurement of military assets such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), submarines, and helicopters, to name a few, have indirectly impacted the people’s wellbeing by siphoning off monies that could have been used for the welfare of the rakyat.
We are now at a crossroads with the responsibility to decide the future wellbeing of the nation and its people.
We must choose wisely and not allow those who have been reckless and opportunistic in squandering the country’s resources and make a mockery of our institutions of governance, resulting in Malaysia being ridiculed as a laughing stock and branded as the most corrupt country in the world, to return to power to continue plundering the country and impoverishing its people.
The people must choose the lesser of two evils – those with the least corrupt track record but have displayed some semblance of accountable governance and the professional ability to lift the country out of the quagmire of corruption and economic stagflation, and forge a future of equitable and harmonious living.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13. Main image by Information Department of Malaysia.