Election Fever

I must admit, I find political issues too emotionally charging. And politics usually lead to irrational emotional outburst which could hurt relationship. But it’s very important. It’s my right to vote but it’s my right to keep my preference close to my heart as well. I seldom discuss any political issues publicly. It’s just my personal preference. But I keep myself updated on political issues from all angles be it from government or opposition.

It’s alarming however how conservative both sides have become based on their campaigning and manifestos.  When I said conservative, I meant moving towards right wing policies. I can sense that both sides are trying to champion meritocracy policies, reward based on merit. From right wing or capitalist point of view, this is the golden rule to achieve success. However, to lure the poor, various gifts are promised such as BR1M, free education, low car prices and many more. Not one comprehensive policy to assist the poor in the long term perspective. Both government and opposition seem to response more to loud voices coming from middle and upper class of society which I can see trust meritocracy policies are the way to build this country forward. At the expense of poor? Who by the way has low or no voices at all simply because they can easily be bribed by all the wonderful promises by both government and opposition.

Led by two young and smart guys, KJ from ruling party and Rafizi from opposition, both seems preaching the same ultimate goal – merit based society. I respect both of them, they are articulate, intelligent and communicate better that can easily influence lots of people. Both have impressive CV. But they speak from their experience of success as the way to go forward. But not many people have the same gifts and talents as both of them. I too initially believed the same thing. As Rafizi said, he quit Petronas to gauge his talent outside and he was successful. I was doing the same thing, as a Petronas Scholar I was hesitant to join Petronas because I think I can do much better outside. At the moment, I’m happy where I am. But over the years, I learn one thing, success is never about money. I can never feel successful when I see a lot people closer to me struggling to make ends meet.

I’m successful as a result of merit based policies, I can admit that. Merit based policies are no angel though. Learning from Thatcher’s legacy for example, a lot of so called worker’s class still suffering until now. No wonder some were dancing upon learning Thatcher’s death. Merit based policies reward small segment of society to the point this segment controlling the fate the rest of segments of society. Richer is getting richer and poor remain stagnant and getting poorer. How can you say that’s fair? It’s proven in history over and over again.

There should be some balance as I preached in my previous post between right and left wing policies (Hint: Social Market Economy as practiced by Germany) Unfortunately, I can see none comprehensive policies or at least clear ideologies from both ruling and opposition party. This election is a fight between same ideology, the only fight they have between each other is to tackle the weaknesses among each other such as corruption, sex scandal (to the point becoming a joke now), racial issues, etc. On BN side, corruption is so wide spread that has become clear weakness to them. On PR side, reducing civil servants just to fix the deficit budget? Come on. I wish there is one party that has clear ideology to ensure the prosperity of all segments of society. Democrat type party is the closest I can wish for.