In a certain way, the 12th General Election was almost a battleground on cyberspace. Never in history did bloggers (Elizabeth Wong, Malik Imtiaz, Haris Ibrahim, Ancient Mariner, Seventh Rangers, notably Jeff Ooi) and many more blogs out there that worked tirelessly exposing misdeeds of the previous regime. Special mention to Raja Petra and Steven Gan's Malaysiakini
Never before did youtube played such a crucial role during the campaign period and even the years running up to this election. We watched BN antics in Parliament, Police brutality in Rallies, felt the wave of change and emotions in the Bersih Rally.
Never before, has opposition MPs used blogs so effectively. After all, Tony Pua and Lim Kit Siang are mere mortals - just like the rest of us; electorates now has a peek into their thought processes, questions, fears and whatever challenges that are at hand.
Moving forward, it will definitely be forseeable, that blogs, netizens will be keeping the new government in check. In addition, blog feedbacks, citizen reviews may feature prominently.
Much the same way, governments won through the military force would have a strong military presence as a form of check-and-balance (Indonesia, Burma, North Korea, Fiji)
Hopefully, the shroud of secrecy that so permeates the previous administration will be quickly taken down.
In essence, this may culminate to a true form of e-government. A transparent government, a government for the people and by the people. Government can no longer ignore the 'e' factor any longer.
It is indeed a new morning in California.
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Opposition can only ignore Indian votes at their own peril
- Indian vote bank the Achilles Heel in a two-party system
By Joe Fernandez@Fernz
Indian votes play the Kingmaker role in Peninsular Malaysia, not Chinese or Malay votes although there is a lot of talk about Chinese and Malay dissatisfaction. The Indians have been conveniently forgotten by the instant pundits-plagued media, again. The Chinese and Malay Opposition are just jumping on the bandwagon of Indian dissatisfaction and adding their own petty issues which detract from the core issue in the just concluded General Elections: Indian dissatisfaction with the BN. There is nothing the Chinese and Malay Opposition can do on their own without the support of Indian voters. Just as easily the Opposition won five states in Peninsular Malaysia, they can lose them again at the next General Elections if the Indians defect to the BN. That’s why Samy Vellu has pledged to stay on as MIC president and continue to soldier on. He knows. He knew. Even know, he’s plotting the destruction of the Opposition day and night.
It is not the Indians alone that are dissatisfied with the BN Government. Others are dissatisfied too. The difference is that the votes of the Others cannot make even an iota of difference at the polls against the might of the BN without the votes of the Indians. An Indian vote in a marginal constituency is worth its weight in gold compared with a non-Indian vote in an ethnic-majority constituency.
If the BN wants to win back the sizeable Indian votes in the 64 Parliamentary seats (BN obtained the Indian votes in only three Parliamentary seats), it must not touch the following in a negative way: Hindu temples; Tamil schools; and Tamil language.
It must not allow the Civil Courts to compromise the Federal Constitution by bending over backwards to accommodate Syariah Court rulings in an adverse manner against non-Muslims.
No snatching of non-Muslim corpses by claiming that they had secretly converted to Islam by reciting something in front of some people on their deathbed.
No bringing in foreign workers, legal and illegal, at the expense of Malaysians. Depressing local wages by using foreigners is also unacceptable.
The BN Government must rein in the Malay Police who are brutally engaged in a long running war with Indian youths. So many Indian youths have been beaten blue and black in police custody, and even killed, for no other reason other than their race. Has even one extra-judicial killing been investigated and the guilty punished?
The BN Government must make efforts to Malaysianise the Malay Police, the Malay Civil Service, the Malay Judiciary and the Malay Teaching Service. What will become of the Lingam tapes? There must be substance in the follow-up, not just form and cosmetics.
The BN Government must ensure that equal rights, as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, are respected and honoured. Don’t drag in the question of special privileges (for the Umnoputras certainly) to deny equal rights to all.
The System must be for all, not just for some people. Contradictions, deviations, discrepancies and hijacking of the system must be eliminated. Government created opportunities must be made available to all, without fear or favour, and not just for some people only. There must be no discrimination or quota systems. The NEP, instituted in the name of the Bumiputera masses and the poor and socio-engineering, must go because it has been abused and abused enough time and time again to enrich the Umnoputras at the expense of all.
The Malaysian Prime Minister must behave as a Prime Minister for all races and not just for the Malays. He should never tell Indians to go and see some stooge of an Indian community leader when they have grievances to discuss with him. One day Badawi says he has big ears and the next day he refuses to meet with Hindraf leaders.
The Malaysian Prime Minister must stop saying things like: Melayu mesti buat ini, Melayu mesti buat it, Melayu mesti buat ini and itu, Agenda Melayu, ketuanan Melayu, perjuangan Melayu yang belum selesai, Melayu Baru, Islam Hadhari, incorporation of Islamic values, the Islamic state, the Social Contract etc. These are things that should be raised by Malay community leaders and not the Malaysian Prime Minister.
The BN, Umno in particular, must stop bribing Indian community leaders with some crumbs to betray the community.
The BN must not insist on the MIC being the sole representative of the Indian community in the Barisan Nasional.
Finally, the Opposition can only ignore the Indian community at their own peril. Don’t take the community for granted and become complacent and rest on your laurels. Anwar Ibrahim is no magician. This man has never impressed me. He’s a shallow intellectual and political chameleon – Chandra Muzzafar is right - who jumped on the Hindraf phenomenon (makkal sakthi or people power) and did very well for the Opposition. He must be laughing himself to death at the utter stupidity of the BN leaders in handling the Hindraf issue just as he was laughing himself to death when he effortlessly went from ABIM leader to Deputy Prime Minster although he made a mess of every Ministry he headed and would have made a mess of the economy too in 1998 had not Mahathir stepped in and sacked him. Let the Indians have their rightful place in the sun or witness Malaysian politics going into a long period of uncertainty, swinging from one extreme to another, and finally degenerating into chaos, instability and economic ruin.
The Bumiputera community was the excuse for the NEP in 1970 in the wake of the searing Sino-Malay race riots of 13 May 1969. Today, the Bumiputeras have nothing more than the proverbial shirt on their back and have turned to Islam in solace. They were used and thoroughly used again and again since 1970 as an excuse to enrich a privileged few, most of whom have since gone bankrupt and bankrupted quite a number of state institutions too.
The Opposition, in power in five states, should not make the same mistake with the Indian community which has put them where they are now. True, Others supported too. But their votes would have meant nothing at all against the might of the BN without the golden Indian votes, the deciding factor. Just look at the way the votes went in the just-concluded 12th General Election. However, the BN has been wise enough not to publicly blame Indian voters for their electoral debacle.
http://fernzjoefernandez.blogspot.com
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