The call for clean, free and fair elections continued to be
most significant development in 2012 as it was in previous years. The images of
the massive turn out of the people from all walks of life onto the streets of
Kuala Lumpur and Dataran Merdeka in Bersih 3.0 is still very clear in the minds
of the people. Till today as the year comes to a close and the elections due
very soon, not enough has been done to address the 8 important electoral
reforms demanded by the people.
Besides Bersih, the rise of popular people movements such as
the Anti-Lynas,
the environmentalist Himpunan Hijau and
Himpunan Oren or
Anak Felda and the Himpunan Merah championing
the Kelantan oil royalty are significant positive developments in 2012.
Meanwhile corruption continues on an unimaginable scale and
the most talked about scandal was the National Feedlot Corporation(NFC) scandal popularly called the cow-gate scandal,
which became a household name among even ordinary Malaysians. Others were the so
called Amangate in Sabah and its associated Nazrigate on the mainland.
The Scorpene scandal involving the alleged corruption in the purchase of
submarines from France and the mysterious murder of Mongolian Altantuya also
resurfaced to haunt the nation with the continued revelations by Suaram and carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan.
Although the incidents occurred many years ago it looks like the ghost of
Altantunya cannot be laid to rest.
The war of
words among former top cops regarding misappropriations in the police force is
a serious allegation that has yet to be addressed. It has cast great doubts in
the minds of the people about the professionalism in the PDRM which if not
acted upon will lead to the total loss of credibility of our police force that
will be detrimental to the security of the nation and the people.
The year 2012 also witnessed the rise of many young stars in
the political arena, the most notable being PKR
director of strategy Rafizi
Ramli, who has earned the respect of Malaysians for his bold exposure of the NFC
and other scandals with facts and figures to proof his allegations of
corruption.
Against the backdrop of such ongoing major corruption scandals were other
lesser moral issues that dominated the headlines in the year. These were
related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community
(LGBT),
gender segregation, the “Allah” issue, Islamic state and Hudud laws. As
expected the government-controlled main stream media used these issues to play
up the differences between PAS and DAP.
Very soon into the new year, Malaysians will go to the polls when they
will have to choose the party to rule them for the next 5 years. It is basically
a choice between BN and PR. They have to carefully weigh the strengths and
weaknesses of the two parties based on past performance and present promises
before making their all important choice within the secrecy of the election
booths.
The BN has 55 years of experience and has elevated the nation to where it
is today. However major corruption, abuse of power with the emasculation of the
public institutions, unfair socio-economic and ethnic policies continue
unabated under it rule. The BN government appears powerless to overcome these
major ills today due to pressures from within. In fact after being in power for
so long it seemed to have lost the political will to change to become more people-oriented
as it used to be before.
The PR on the other hand is inexperienced and untested in many areas but
pledges to put an end to these major corruptions, introduce a more
people-oriented socio-economic policies for all and restore the much needed
independence of the public institutions, especially the judiciary, police and
MACC. It promises to reduce oil and food prices, abolish PTPTN to provide free
tertiary education for all, stop the Lynas radioactive project, abolish the AES
for traffic offenders and bring to task all those involved in corruption. Their
policies may be populist but at least it offers some hope of change for the
better.
With the increasing access to the alternate cyber media, the
people today are better informed today of the truth. They are in a better
position today to decide who will be a better choice to lead the nation.As we
step into 2013 let us pray that the Almighty grant us the wisdom to make the
right choice for the dawn of better and happier new Malaysia for all.
A Happy New Year to all fellow Malaysians
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