You’ve heard my two cents on why you should vote Opposition.
But for now, let me just ask two quick questions that occurred to me:
1) How many people do you know are excited to vote BN?
2) Why are the people you know who are voting BN doing so?
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1. About 3/10
2. Afraid of change.
unfortunately, they tend to be from the more comfy youth segment (40 – 50%) concentrated within the middle/upper middle category neighbourhoods. female voters are the exception as they are emotionally driven by recent sexist incidents.
because of blinkered views, immaturity, habit of seeking instant gratification & taking the easy way out. some that i spoke to believe that corruption/selective distribution is acceptable as it is a way of life. they tend to subscribe to the idea of taking whatever they can – just as the current regime.
however, it is interesting to note that opposition parties have not been able to create any sort of impact or position in their minds, which i suspect is due to absence of a simple and straight forward campaign platform/agenda. the concept of opposition being rabble rousers with no uniform direction sticks.
nat: i accept your criticism. but i’m curious, so this ppl you spoke to will go out and vote BN? How do they see this as benefiting them?
The older chinese are very against PAS and most of the Islamic agenda which crept or raise into prominance during Anwar’s time as DPM. This alone is keeping away the Chinese from voting the opposition. It is the early perception is that hard to change. During his ABIM and ultra malay stance, such as bahasa baku.
Don’t get me wrong. I too wouldn’t vote for him if I had not read his Asian Renaissance or to know the real Anwar. But we must remember PKR is Anwar. And Anwar was in the same camp of the corrupt BN that we are now fighting against.
The other reason is Mlays do not want to lose the ketuanan melayu and the chinese will always vote where the money(business) is.
One reason why the country is where it is, the Ali BAba practice which breeds corruption.
Just 2 sen. I will vote for oppostion as I have always been.
One more thing, try distributing flyers with snippets of Zakaria Deros deeds and RM22k fine, VK Lingam, etc etc. Not many access internet. and those access internet were made up largely by people too lazy to registered as voters. My personanl count of pwople I know.
Women says they don’t care
Some will take the easy way out and choose not to vote. They have excuses like they are away from their voting centers/ they have not changed their address/ they do not have confidence in both BN and opposition parties. Yet they made a lot of noise when things didn’t turn out right. Cakap tak serupa bikin.
That’s the sorry state of these so-called Malaysians.
1. “We don’t see the Opposition as a viable alternative.”
- a retired Chinese couple, wife was a teacher. Obviously what they have in mind is typical “if I vote opposition and they form the government…” fear, when they do not realise how BN govt has been eroding the country and how the Opposition is made up of very capable, professional members, and is never given a change to run the govt.
2. “The guy representing BN is a good guy.”
- this guy is a complicated one. Again, a Chinese living in crime-ridden Johor Bahru, and he is very aware of the threat his family is constantly under. Yet, his view above is not sound: the current top-down approach of govt and the concentration of power in Putrajaya (not Parlimen) means there is little a “good” MP can do. Worse, the MP cannot give speak for his people – remember what happened to the Cameron Highland MP when he spoke for Hindraf cause?
they are numskulls who are selectively absorbing pockets of information that suits them – stick with current set up, hope for hand-outs, things are fine – why change, heads stuck in mud therefore can’t see, etc… therefore vote BN.
unless or until things go pear shaped for them, they will not see the need for change.
they feel no shame and believe that their very existence alone should guarantee entitlements. ve3ry short sighted, very sad.
short of slapping the stuffings out of their heads, i have tried everything from reasoning to shunning just to get the message across.
the earlier comment is not meant to be critical but it could provide some ideas on how to fill the gap in bridging communication?
“the concept of opposition being rabble rousers with no uniform direction sticks.”
I agree. I support the opposition, but I’ve always said they could use a lot of improvement in this area if they want more than the die-hard supporters to vote for them. It does not matter if everyone who has always voted opposition says they will vote opposition again this time; the numbers have always been consistent. (Roughly 1/3rd of the electorate votes opposition, even in the relative BN landslides of 1995 and 2004.)
I agree that a large portion of the fear of change lies in the false perception that because the opposition has never run a country, they can’t run the country. But at the same time, there’s still a strong discernible perception that the opposition is more a bunch of rabblerousers (well-meaning rabblerousers perhaps) with not very concrete ideas about what they want to do.
I used to share the concerns of those non-Muslims who fear PAS. I know they’ve done a relatively great job in Kelantan, and that they mean well, but the prospect of an Islamic state is still frightening. Given the chance, though, I’d still vote PAS instead of BN. If we are going to have an Islamic state, I’d rather it be one run by PAS than by BN – BN has basically taken the worst elements of PAS Islamism and incorporated it into their governance.
You know, very soon after the Ijok by-election, I spotted a post on Fong Po Kuan’s blog that I thought was a little unusual. She said (in her “own personal opinion” as opposed to the party’s opinion – she stressed that point) that based on the election outcomes in Machap and Ijok, she thinks the next GE would be “tough” for the opposition. And she added a sad frowny face :( In light of recent events I find myself looking for hidden meaning there. But I digress…
The most telling straw poll will be one conducted in more rural electorates. There I suspect the news will not be so good for the opposition. VK-siapa? MIC ka? Good luck explaining the whole situation la.
And add to that the gerrymandering that we all know is so severe in Malaysia’s electoral system, I think we are going to get a refresher course on it – and so many other less well informed Malaysians are going to get a cold hard lesson on it.
But never mind. On urban voters, hesitancy towards the opposition:
PAS=Islamic State
PKR=Anwar Ibrahim
DAP=Internal Feuding
these are widespread perceptions that dissuade people from choosing the opposition over the BN.
But that’s not actually the choice that urban voters have to make. This “election” isn’t a real election, it is a referendum. Control of parliament is not up for grabs, and I don’t believe even BN’s 2/3rds majority can be broken. However, the popular vote is up for grabs, and if the 1999 popular vote threshold of 43% can be crossed this time, I think that gives opposition and reform groups a lot of momentum to drive a lot of changes. We won’t win as many seats as PAS did in ’99, but we can secure large wins in far more densely populated electorates.
If such a popular vote victory were to transpire, it would be so much more meaningful than the protest of 1999. For the rakyat to break ranks with BN now, it would reflect general dissatisfaction with a large spectrum of real issues.
Urban voters *have* to restore balance, because there is noone else who can do it.
Try explaining that to the BN apologists.
Nat, I would echo the feedback provided by johnleemk.
Vision, mission and values – I hear some elements of each but nothing holistic. Painting a vision of a future is a first step, the next and most difficult step is to execute on this.
Without the above, my perception based on the rhetoric is that your party is only focused on the ‘”why” i.e. I should vote for you and not them. Will this convince some people? Absolutely.
But to get people’s hearts and minds, the party needs to go beyond that … “what will we do different” or “how will we do things differently”.
As this is not in place it could account for the inability of the general populace to understand and objectively evaluate why how your party is an alternative agent for change.
1. 10/10 All MCA MAchais
2. cronies connected to MCA in illicit business dealings
VOTE BN OUT
Kinda replied to this post on my blog, over here:
http://surind.blogspot.com/2008/02/malaysian-elections-speculations.html