MALAYSIA DOES NOT HAVE AN OPPOSITION.

…THE 8 MARCH, 2008 GENERAL ELECTION ELECTED 'MEDIA CLOWNS' TO PARLIAMENT ON LEFT SIDE WITH SOME WHO ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIGHT. …WITH THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA PROVIDE THE CIRCUS FOR THE MEDIA CLOWNS TO SHOW THEIR TRUE COLORS.

By Mansor Puteh

Where in the world where the general election does not elect representatives to parliament from amongst those who are the best qualified?

In Malaysia the 2008 general election saw many who are not so well educated turned into parliament for nothing, other than the voters who did not wish to vote for Barisan Nasional.

It’s not because the like the opposition more. It’s just that they hated the candidates of Barisan more.

These candidates were those who had hogged the political traffic, who had gone on to amass immense wealth.

Some of them were not very rich before they entered politics. Then they became very rich.

No, they are not corrupt; they are law-abiding citizens of Malaysia. But this does not mean they do not know how to go about the rigmarole of the financial and legal system to posses what they do now?

There is no poor Member of Parliament or former members of the cabinet and other state governments and assemblies.

Most of the members of parliament of Malaysia today are those who are not so well-educated. They do not know how to raise issues much less to debate on them.

Many of the issues brought up by the opposition and the left-wing NGO leaders are those that had been dealt with long ago.

Yet, they bring them out one by one just to flag off their stupidity. They get a lot of coverage in the media because of that.

There is no opposition member who can speak intelligently on any issue in parliament or in the political rallies or ‘ceramah’ that their parties organize almost on a nightly basis.

This is entertainment to those in the rural areas who are thrilled by their presence and nonsense.

Even after three years, none of the opposition members of parliament has ever tried to relate with the people who had voted for them, even when they had done it unconsciously and indirectly.

My bet is that these voters had unknowingly voted the opposition by group acting when all they had wanted to do was to reduce the number of votes for Barisan or to replace those old hats in it whom they thought had been around for too long.

The Barisan candidates were those who had not shown any gratitude by representing them. They were seen to be serving themselves first and their parties second.

The Melayu voters especially felt not wanted and sidelined.

The rural areas where they can be found in larger numbers have been ignored.

So no wonder most Melayu in Malaysia are backward with some of the villages they live in which do not have the basic amenities like pipe water and electricity, never mind internet connection with poor television signals.

These Melayu look like they are still in pre-Merdeka Malaysia.

The Melayu in the rural areas live in shacks, while the Melayu leaders live opulently and exhibit crass tastes.

Even the lower-ranking officials of Umno live lavishly when they are those whose academic backgrounds are so superficial with a basic degree without excelling in anything.

They only excel in public speaking and public relations, and who have direct connection to their hierarchy which they use to benefit personally.

Unfortunately, the opposition members who are now in parliament are not worthy opposition members with some or many of the non-Melayu ones who can’t even speak or write in Melayu well, if at all.

None of the new generation of opposition members of parliament has excelled since their appointment to parliament.

None of them has also been known or seen to have spoken intelligently on any local or international issue.

They get a fat pay with a lot of financial incentives, yet, they do not speak up on anything in parliament, a chore that is taken by the older guards which do not number more than a dozen.

Even the head of the opposition in parliament, Anwar has not said anything interesting or intelligent in parliament.

He is known as an orator. But alas, it is an orator from an old school.

It’s not wrong for anyone to say that there is no opposition in Malaysia. What we have are some members of parliament from Pakatan Rakyat who are there for their personal benefit.

So the win by the opposition in the 8 March, 2008 general election is really a march for the opposition to move further away from Putrajaya which they say they wanted to claim for themselves.

How can they do this when the traffic they are trapped in is taking them to Jalan Duta courthouses?

This detour is forced on them by their own wrong calculations.

The voters of Malaysia will know exactly what to do the next time they are given the opportunity to vote.

They will not give the opposition another chance as the win they experienced in 2008 had made some of the Chinese and Indian ones to be irresponsible and not professional.

Pakatan will lose and they will lose big. This loss will loosen their coalition which is not based on any interesting common ground, but by their intense desire to uproot Barisan.