Nothing in local politics appears to shock Malaysians any more, but many young voters seem to be put off by what politicians have done in the past, including the recent past.
Some of these young ones say there is no point in casting their ballots any more despite the billing of the coming general election as the mother of all polls where every vote counts.
Such thoughts are dangerous because, with automatic voter registration in place, more than five million voters, mostly aged between 18 and 25, have been empowered to make a difference.
The young people’s stand is that the same players are back, the very ones who destroyed the mandate the voters gave Pakatan Harapan, leading to three years of uncertainty.
You have Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng, Abdul Hadi Awang, Zuraida Kamaruddin and Azmin Ali among the big names.
The young are also asking what guarantee is there that something like the Sheraton Move will not happen again. One can understand their frustration but obviously they are ignorant here. An anti-hopping law, which bars elected representatives from switching parties, is already in place.
Many young voters seem to be unaware of this important fact. The problem here is there could be millions of them in this category, and they can make a huge difference in GE15.
Some say that parties in a coalition can leave en bloc and join other groupings to ensure someone obtains a majority in Parliament. Obviously, this cannot be stopped.
In practice, Malaysian voters usually give their mandate to the party, not the candidate. The anti-hopping law is an assurance to voters that the party they choose will not lose its elected representatives and will remain intact. No one can be bought over individually by promises of cash and top appointments any more.
However, some voters question the moral aspect of switching support before or after elections. They are asking why certain politicians are prepared to work with the very individuals who helped destroy the mandate the voters gave PH in 2018.
Take the case of Mahathir, who recently indicated that he was prepared to work with Anwar.
Mahathir tried to destroy Anwar’s political ambitions a couple of times. It would be ridiculous for Anwar, his party PKR or DAP to even consider the offer from the man who indirectly allowed the fall of PH in 2020, 22 months after it swept into power.
Before GE14, Mahathir, who was then Bersatu president, was prepared to meet Anwar in court during his sodomy trial to seek his support to be part of PH so as to unseat BN. He even pledged to hand over the prime minister’s post after winning to Anwar. The rest is history.
Similarly, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin has had the temerity to seek PH’s cooperation in order to try to stay relevant in politics. It is really hard for the voters, especially the young ones, to fathom how politicians can swallow their pride, if they have any, in their quest for power.
Muhyiddin was the chief engineer of the Sheraton Move, winning MPs to his side with promises of GLC positions, among others. We all know that despite his poor rating as prime minister, he is still PN’s prime ministerial candidate.
However, he announced on Saturday that PN would not cooperate with PH after it was told that the Anwar-led coalition was not interested.
He said Bersatu would focus on efforts to strengthen PN as a political coalition of various races in this country, aimed at bringing about a corruption-free, efficient and caring leadership for the prosperity of all.
Again, mere words that were not practised by PN. On the contrary, these leaders used the concept of Malay supremacy to ensure the government they led was mainly from this community.
And corruption free? Come on, we saw selective prosecution in motion too. Certain MPs probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Inland Revenue Board had the investigations suspended after they left the opposition to support the PN government.
The selective prosecution during the PH days under Mahathir as prime minister continued even after PN took over.
Can GE15 end this sickening political circus and put the nation back on the right track? One can only hope, but with the way the nation seems to be split in so many ways, this is going to be tough.
So it is left to the millions of new voters to put things right by voting for the right party and candidates. Hopefully, their choice will be towards cleansing the country of corruption and racial and religious bigotry.
Their votes are vital to ensure our key institutions like Parliament, the judiciary, MACC, police, universities and vital enforcement agencies are cleansed and brought to world class standards.
Let’s hope they will stop using their petty argument that “there is no point voting” and instead come out to make a difference.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of theindependent.my
