Bersih 2.0
So here we stand - on the eve of a major rally/demonstration/protest in Kuala Lumpur (Bersih 2.0) - and quite frankly, it couldn't have come sooner. The faster they get it over with, the faster we can all get on with our lives.
To me, Bersih 2.0 lost all credibility when politicians started meddling in it. It cannot claim to be representing normal citizens when it is so blatantly clear that it's receiving orders from politicians. And I'd like to point out that ANY electoral roll in ANY country will have discrepancies. I doubt it is even possible to find one which is entirely accurate. While I don't disagree that the elecotral roll in Malaysia needs to be cleaned up, claiming that the Government has a hand in manipulating it is plain lazy. People need to wake up and realize that we live in Malaysia - the land of tidak apa. Malaysians can do many things, but updating and maintaining stuff (like buildings, websites and in this case, the electoral roll) are not one of their fortes. Trust me on that one.
What Bersih 2.0 has successfully achieved thus far is to expose this whole other bunch of idiots who plan to hold counter-rallies. Quite what they hope to achieve (besides potentially sparking a riot) is beyond me. And, just like Bersih 2.0, these counter-rallies have politics written all over it. I say kudos to the police for banning those 91 people. Ban the lot of them for making people's lives miserable.
These are the sort of things that turn normal Malaysians off from taking an interest in politics. Since the last general election, nothing concrete been done to tackle the real issues people face such as the rising gap between the wealthy and the poor, escalating property prices, improving public transport (although admittedly it's great to finally see KVMRT kick off). Instead what we've got are a whole bunch of sex videos, conspiracies and racist garbage.
And the sad thing is, both sides are guilty of doing a poor job. In the next elections we'll essentially be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.
To me, Bersih 2.0 lost all credibility when politicians started meddling in it. It cannot claim to be representing normal citizens when it is so blatantly clear that it's receiving orders from politicians. And I'd like to point out that ANY electoral roll in ANY country will have discrepancies. I doubt it is even possible to find one which is entirely accurate. While I don't disagree that the elecotral roll in Malaysia needs to be cleaned up, claiming that the Government has a hand in manipulating it is plain lazy. People need to wake up and realize that we live in Malaysia - the land of tidak apa. Malaysians can do many things, but updating and maintaining stuff (like buildings, websites and in this case, the electoral roll) are not one of their fortes. Trust me on that one.
What Bersih 2.0 has successfully achieved thus far is to expose this whole other bunch of idiots who plan to hold counter-rallies. Quite what they hope to achieve (besides potentially sparking a riot) is beyond me. And, just like Bersih 2.0, these counter-rallies have politics written all over it. I say kudos to the police for banning those 91 people. Ban the lot of them for making people's lives miserable.
These are the sort of things that turn normal Malaysians off from taking an interest in politics. Since the last general election, nothing concrete been done to tackle the real issues people face such as the rising gap between the wealthy and the poor, escalating property prices, improving public transport (although admittedly it's great to finally see KVMRT kick off). Instead what we've got are a whole bunch of sex videos, conspiracies and racist garbage.
And the sad thing is, both sides are guilty of doing a poor job. In the next elections we'll essentially be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.
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