Why I’m Not Voting Against Barisan Nasional

An open letter to Malaysia’s opposition parties

By Chris Chew

Dear opposition parties of Malaysia,

I’ll make this clear: I don’t care much about politics. I definitely care, just not much. It ranks somewhere below the quality of my dinner, the quantity of my increment, and whether my pet squirrel has sufficient protein in her diet. Just above the circumference of my coffee mug, I reckon.

But that’s beside the point. The point is, this election season, I’ve decided to care a smidgen more. As such, I’ve joined 600,000 other Malaysians who made the decision over the past three and a half years to become actively participating members of Malaysia’s 11 million-member electorate. I’m not sure if it was an innate inkling to feel belonged to such a hoopla-ed collective, or the sublime satisfaction of finally being eligible for something, or the fact that registration was free and my cheapskate Malaysian ass never lets anything free pass me by. You should see my collection of green hotel shampoos.

So having made that commitment, I now find myself at that proverbial crossroad. I deeply want to exercise my right to vote, the same way my 17-year-old tush wanted to exercise its right to drive. But unlike the clearcut instruction from dad that “you can take the car, but crash it and you’re dog food”, I find this newfound privilege tougher to navigate. It boils down to one uncertainty, really: who do I vote for?

On one hand, I’ve long bought the song and dance that Barisan Nasional, the dominant party that controls over 90 percent of Parliament and 12 of the country’s 13 states, is flawed. Deeply flawed. I came to that realisation one afternoon after college in 1998, as I sat on the steps of Menara Maybank in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and watched my fellow citizens get blasted with water cannons for protesting against the arrest of former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Through the years, and particularly over the last three-and-a-half, I’ve grown to fit squarely into the demographic of young urban minorities who are apparently disgruntled with economic destabilisation, crime ascension, racial polarisation, cultural assassination and judicial degradation. I am the poster child for the Malaysian that is sick of prejudiced education quotas, corporate policies and unstable petrol prices. I too wish mee hoon soup was still 50 cents.

In that sense then, my vote should be a given. But here’s the conundrum: I’m not that disgruntled. Or disillusioned, dissatisfied, or disenfranchised. I’m not exactly a card-swiping member of the cashmere cushioned middle class, but I’m also not the type that spends weekends sandpapering ‘SCREW THE SYSTEM’ placards or penning elaborate campaign emails. I eat my beans, wash my car and love my country. I’ve watched its structures putrefy, its leaders embezzle, and its media asphyxiate. I’ve met individuals who have been arrested, assaulted and exiled. I’ve even sat through some rather dull, pitifully ineloquent ceramahs. But I’ve also watched my family fair decently, my friends find good jobs and my fellow Malaysians lend a helping hand to the weak. I’ve grown up through the country’s seasons of immense affluence, and periods of decay and hardship, and have forged the belief that, more than ever, we have the potential to be one of the great nations of the world.

So essentially, my request has come down to this: I just want to know who to vote for. And yes, it seems silly to ask that question to you, since you’re actually one of my options. But thanks to your efforts over the past many months, that decision should be significantly easier. It’s now pretty hip to blame the current administration for pretty much every problem in life, and hey, I’m like totally all about being hip. Malaysian Airlines hire paedophilic pilots? Completely a result of shabby aerospace policies, surely. Pizza Hut demonstrates racist sales practices? Gotta be a by-product of that wretched NEP. Kidnapped little girls can’t be found? What an incompetent police force we have! Perdana cut into my lane without signalling? Company reduced my bonus? Dog licks his own butt? Damn you, Badawi!

Don’t get me wrong. You are not entirely responsible; you’re hardly that influential. To your undoubted satisfaction, a little bit of keris-waving, sexist remarking and open declarations of this nation being an Islamic State have gone a long way towards entrenching the perception among my peers and I that this administration doesn’t have our best interests in mind. Coupled with your endeavours, and by golly, the ruling party does look pretty incompetent! The dirty laundry has been aired, smelt and found stinking.

So I’m pretty close to deciding. Here, then, is what I need to know: this election season, help me believe that you’ll be a better alternative.

That’s it. That’s all I’m asking. Quit the name-calling. Enough with the nerdy lawyer tape-releasing. For the next three weeks, stop barreling through a government I’ve long acknowledged to be unqualified for the job, and start demonstrating how you are a better fit. Sadly, you can’t win my vote by proving the other party sucks any more than a monkey can choose between two banana bunches by being told the other bunch is bland. I’m the ape, and all I want to know is whether the fruit in your hand tastes any better.

You see, as open as I am to change, I am almost equally adverse to underhanded political slandering. A bit too familiar, if you will. All the time, resources and megabytes devoted towards exposing the many skeletons in the existing cabinet has told me heaps about them, and squat about you. In a press release by PKR-adviser Anwar Ibrahim, responding to the 13th February Parliament dissolution, Anwar wrote, “Our candidates have worked day and night to expose the constant failings of the government [to] convey our vision of hope for a better Malaysia.” Ummm, woo hoo?

Frankly, your bustling, soul-shagging activity reeks of, well, politics. Which, as I outlined earlier, I have minimal interest in. Malaysian society—and indeed society in general—certainly has scandal fetish, and you’ve all but fed that insatiable need with a steady drip of goss. Which has left me wondering: so that’s the alternative for which I am supposed to suspend my faith and belief in the current party for? Oh, the luxury of choice.

I’m gracious though. In the 13 days that have been allocated to all contesting politicians between nomination day and polling day, you have a chance to recast your rhetoric. The ballot box is in your court. DAP, help me believe that your oft-chronicled infighting will not carry over onto the floors of Parliament. PKR, help me believe that your leader by everything-but-the-title is a different man who will not reinvigorate the prejudiced policies he once propagated. PAS, help me believe that your concept of an Islamic State is not a malicious one, and that cultural diversity will not be sacrificed in the name of religious preservation.

And to all of you, help me believe you can work together. I fully recognise the lack of unity in Malaysian society; I am as-yet unable to believe you will display the greater sense of oneness demanded. Help me believe that you deserve to be honoured with the proper noun reference of ‘the Opposition’, or even the single entity I subconsciously envision that has me typing “you” when it really should be, well, the lot of you.

So seal the deal. Convince me that you’ll be less racist, more transparent, and epitomise the Malaysia that many of us still believe exists. Because until you do, there really isn’t any incentive to pick another evil that I have yet to determine is lesser. By hook or legally extradited crook, I’m casting my vote come 8th March. And I intend to make it count. Help make my inaugural trip from the office desk to the polling booth worth it.

Yours truly,
The Young Urban Malaysian