Dilemma of a Malay voter this coming reserved Presidential Election (PE)
What participation means for the Malay voters.
1. Reserving the PE only for Malay candidates is against the grain of meritocracy. The central tenets that our country is built on.
2. Participation would mean condoning and prolonging race based policies that further divide our nation.
3. Allowing ourselves to be used as a political pawn for self-serving purposes.
4. We perpetuate the perverse narrative by the gov that Malay community cannot win an open election without assistance
5. The community descend to a less dignified level as we become part of a flawed system.
Even if the above dont prick us, there is the issue of who do we vote for? At present, these 3 hopefuls.
1. Halimah Yaacob
2. Salleh Marican
3. Farid Khan
We know that the president’s role is largely ceremonial. With the new changes to our Elected Presidency System, our president’s discretionary powers are further abridged. And who gets to be president, would not matter as much before.
I’ve seem some who has indicated that they would probably spoil their votes.
What non-participation or spoiling the vote would mean for the voters.
1. If Mdm Halimah contest, she would most probably win the election. History has shown that when the ruling party endorses a candidate, that someone would go on to win the election.
Spoiling the vote would most definitely hand Mdm Halimah the coveted spot. I dont think this will be ideal as we would want someone who isnt too closely related to the ruling party.
2. If we abstain and not turn up to vote, we are excluding ourselves from nation building and at the same time democracy.
3. Part of democracy is to show our voice through our votes no matter even if we are in the minority. Not participating would mean the result would not reflect the true sentiments of the people.
So do we participate, or no? It’s a tough call.
Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman
