The Day Democracy Dies…
What is Democracy ?
“Democracy is the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives. It is a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them majority rule: the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group” as defined by the University of Princeton1.
In a simpler word, democracy means representatives who were being selected by the people (voters),and for the people,to serve as the people’s voice,toward the state’s administrators. Usually, representatives were elected every five (5) years.
Scene 1– 8th March,2008
In Malaysia, the representatives normally come from two (2) major political parties,and only less than 1% are independent candidates. FYI, Malaysia’s current federal government is led by Barisan Nasional (BN),and the federal opposition alliance is Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
Based on the Malaysian history, by hook or by crook, the BN has been the winning party for the past 50 years. (This means it has always achieved 2/3 majority seats in the Parliament and State Assembly).
However, the situation changed dramatically on the Political Tsunami of 8th March 2008 (most recently conducted General Election). Instead of being the minority always, the opposition alliance, PR, had unexpectedly won up to five (5) states upon 11 in the Peninsular of Malaysia plus it had also “defeated” BN’s 2/3 majority seats in the Parliament. This was but a nightmare to the BN, as it had never expected to lose.
This, was the day Democracy in Malaysia revived!
Scene 2– 5th February, 2009
Perak, one (1) of the five (5) states won and governed by the PR alliance, had changed hand to BN again, in few days’ time. For the past 11 months, the PR government had done no mistake, in fact, they have done things that the BN government never would have, to help the people. The fact is, most of the Perak people are happy with the PR government.
However, the BN had spent only less than one week to tackle 3 State Assembly members who, originally represented the PR, to join the BN. With that, the majority in the State Assembly is led by the BN again, regardless on how the Perak people feel.
We do not blame the BN to defect the PR government this way. We are blaming the 3 involved YBs for their betrayal and cowardliness. They won because the people believed in their manifesto, because people believed in their promises for a brighter future, and not because of who they are, it was because of which party they are representing! Now, they have shown themselves, as the greedy, immoral and power-minded politicians.
Where is the dignity of YBs?
Where is the respect for the people?
Where is the highness of the State Assembly?
On the 5th February, 2009. Democracy died…
Politician means:
“-a leader engaged in civil administration
-a person active in party politics
-a schemer who tries to gain advantage in an organization in sly or underhanded ways” – University of Princeton1.
“A politician (from Greek “polis”) is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d’état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine right) or other means.”- Wikipedia.Org2.
Confucius3 explained that being a politician, one must have good personalities(morality), then good family(harmonious), then only can pursue the chances to manage the country. Politicians are leaders of a country. They are making decisions and policies which would affect the country and the people internally and externally. Witnessing the betrayals in political parties, and the immorality of the political dispution, etc…
Malaysia, are you ready for tomorrow’s challenges?
1University of Princeton. Retrieved Feb 5, 2009, from http://www.wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
2Wikipedia.Org. Retrieved Feb 6, 2009, from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politician
3Confucius- a Chinese philosopher whose ideas and sayings were collected after his death and became the basis of a philosophical doctrine known a Confucianism.
