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| A Thinking Voter’s Checklist
Having a headache making up your mind
which party to vote for?
Aliran Monthly 2004:2
But before we make our minds up, let us reflect on a few crucial issues. Basic human rights for all Now human rights might not mean a lot to some of us. But if our own rights are violated, we will surely think again. It is a basic universal right that anyone who is arrested for an alleged crime must be charged before a court of law and be allowed to put up a defence according to the principles of universal legal practice. The ISA is an affront to such a basic human right. It should be abolished and rejected by all right-minded citizens. Are we aware that some 92 Malaysians are currently held without trial at the Kamunting Detention Camp? Can we turn a blind eye to their plight? Freedom of expression is also a basic democratic right, which has been systematically curbed in Malaysia with the introduction of various undemocratic laws and regulations. We the citizens of Malaysia demand:
Independent judiciary Since the sacking of the former Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas in 1988, the credibility and independence of the Malaysian Judiciary in the public eye has nose-dived. It virtually acts as a subservient branch of the Executive rather than as a separate branch of government that should serve as a check-and-balance, along with Parliament, against Executive excesses. All citizens, whether in high places or low, powerful or weak, rich or poor deserve to have justice meted out in court by fair and independent judges according to the principle of natural justice. We, the citizens of Malaysia, demand:
Press freedom There is too much concentration of media ownership in a few politically well-connected hands. This leads to less freedom of the press. In addition, repressive laws deter free and independent reporting. We, the citizens of Malaysia, demand:
Fair elections Malaysian elections have increasingly become sullied by money politics; literally millions of ringgit are spent to win elections. The Election Commission and the courts must play their role in seeing that candidates strictly adhere to the legal campaign spending limits. Other forms of electoral fraud such as the use of phantom voters, multiple registration of voters and the illegal transfer of voters to different voting areas must be stopped. We abhor the fact that candidates are barred from contesting on dubious grounds. We, the citizens of Malaysia, are disgusted with the way money and power is used to win influence and votes. We demand:
Local democracy A very important and basic right of citizens was set aside when local government was abolished in the early 1970s. The excuse then was that as city councillors were elected, there was too much inefficiency and corruption at the local level of government. Malaysians know that today there is inefficiency and corruption - more so perhaps at the state and federal levels of government. Inefficiency and corruption must be tackled as separate problems and not be used as an excuse to deprive citizens of their basic right to democratic representation at the local level of government. It is the right of all citizens to have duly elected representatives in town councils as practised in the past. We demand:
Holistic development Development must not only stress economic growth but also the fair and just distribution of income and wealth among all the people. Development must ensure that all citizens are entitled to basic economic and social rights. We demand:
It's tough making ends meet The prices of many food items have risen. Fish, meat and vegetables are now costly. How can we feed our families so that they get a balanced diet?
Affordable, quality healthcare for all We demand:
committed healthcare personnel especially doctors and nurses, who must put the patient above all other considerations. stricter regulation of the private healthcare sector to curb the impression that they are only interested in profits first. Decent, affordable housing for all It is a disgrace and a major failure of the government of the day that housing remains unavailable and inadequate for many Malaysians. In contrast, in the years of economic boom the government has allowed housing developers to build luxury housing and condominiums, which are only affordable to the very rich and foreigners. Such a policy has only helped to enrich a small number of developers while leaving the vast majority of citizens exposed to high or barely affordable rents. As citizens, we demand:
Education to nurture thinking Malaysians The role of our education system is not only to produce a well-trained and productive workforce, but also to develop character and to nurture critical and creative thinking. Our education system must also promote respect and acceptance of our diverse religions and cultures and foster national integration. Today our education system is undergoing rapid but erratic change but its quality is suspect. Children and parents are obsessed with exam performance and going to school is not a joyful exciting experience for children who have to cope with a heavier workload. We demand:
Environmental protection In the name of economic progress, many development projects have degraded the environment. Thus, for instance, our land and rivers and sea are polluted by industry. Certain housing projects and highways cut into hills, subsequently triggering landslides, floods and misery to many Malaysians. We the citizens of Malaysian are highly disturbed by the arbitrary and often facile way in which precious state and other land is alienated for so-called development projects. We demand:
Agriculture and food security Over the years, with the government’s zeal to industrialise, agriculture has been sidelined, resulting in the nation having to import foodstuffs and incur huge import bills. In addition, large tracts of land have been used to plant cash crops, which do not necessarily benefit ordinary Malaysians. To make matters worse, excessive and careless use of pesticides has poisoned much of our foodstuff, particularly vegetables. Agro-business is one cause of this excessive use of pesticide. We demand:
Women Women contribute just as much as men to the economic prosperity of the nation. On top of it all, they carry a bigger responsibility in nurturing the young, in preparing food, and in maintaining a liveable space in our daily lives. But they lack power in government and politics and they are also more easily subjected to violent crimes involving their sexuality. We demand;
Indigenous communities Many among the indigenous communities do not seem to have benefited from government development projects and remain desperately poor. That said, we would argue that their cultures and lifestyle must be respected and perpetuated especially if they are in complete harmony with nature. But their respective cultures must not be maintained solely for the gaze of the tourists. Wasteful projects We abhor the unnecessary, expensive projects that waste our country’s resources to satisfy the egos of certain people. Billions of ringgit, which could have been used to uplift the standard of living among Malaysians, have been squandered on unproductive mega projects. Mega projects also provide easy opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to engage in corrupt practices such as kickbacks and bribes. They also tend to displace traditional communities often with paltry compensation that does not take into account the loss of entire lifestyles and communities. Mega projects have drained our country’s resources while enriching a few individuals and politically connected companies. The money spent on mega projects could easily have been used to vastly improve our education and healthcare systems, wipe out poverty, provide social security benefits, and solve the housing problem once and for all. The disabled and special children A government sincerely committed to a caring society should not merely have slogans about caring but give us more action. Groups in our society who have special needs include the aged, the physically and mentally disabled (eg. the blind, those in wheelchairs, the bed-ridden, the autistic, those with Down Syndrome, etc.). Are our public facilities user-friendly for such people? We need to have wheelchair accessible public buildings and some public transit facilities that cater for the needs of the blind and other physically-challenged folk and the aged. Very often, the mentally-challenged are even more ignored because they merely seem “strange” and “odd”. How many parents with autistic, or other mentally-challenged children have asked desperately, “Why aren’t there adequate facilities for teaching our children who have these special needs? Why are we left to our own limited ways to help our special children to learn and grow?” If only some of the money spent on wasteful projects were used to help special people, we would really be proud of “Malaysia Boleh”, i.e. Malaysia can and will care for its own citizens with their different needs. Personal security Malaysia was once regarded as a safe country. But there have been many cases of snatch thefts, break ins, assault, rape, murder, and armed robbery of late. How many of us wake up with a shiver when we hear noises at night because houses in our area have just been broken into? It isn’t only our valuables, it’s our physical safety we are worried about. Will we be hurt? How effective have the authorities been in protecting our bodies, our homes, our families? Or are the security personnel merely interested in curbing dissent and cracking down on peaceful demonstrators demanding their rights? We need to find out if our model of development, which treats human beings as cogs in the development machine, has alienated people, especially those cut off from the mainstream of development. Has the dehumanisation of the human person in society contributed to a rise in crime? Has the lack of integrity in public life, the corruption and abuse of power filtered down to the rest of society and manifested itself in increasing violence? These are some of the concerns that we should bear in mind when we go to the ballot box. We must vote for democracy, for public participation in decision-making, for respect for basic rights and for the holistic development of the human person in harmony with the rest of creation. Now e-mail us and tell us what you think. Your comments might be published in the Letters section of our print magazine, Aliran Monthly. Alternatively, post your comments to the message board. | |||||||||||||||
We must vote for democracy, for public participation in decision-making, for respect for basic rights and for the holistic development of the human person in harmony with the rest of creation.
