happy voting!

Several days ago when I had my lunch, my Singaporean instructor suddenly asked us (me and a bunch of my friends):

“So, I heard there’s election coming here”

We were responding in unison “Yes!”

And there comes my favourite topic which is the current issues and politics, namely the coming Twelfth General Election. So he asked details about the election where sadly, some of my friends are not entitled to vote, whether they haven’t registered or they registered less than three months ago. My instructor was also surprised when he learned that in our country it is not compulsory to vote, unlike Singapore. He explained that in his hometown the atmosphere of election day is totally different, people are actually go holiday since the day will be declared public holiday, and obviously there is less scenes will be made by the government and oppositions.

As most of my colleagues in my workplace are mainly Chinese and Indians, I tried to mind my words as I think the political issues might seem sensitive to others, but eventually guess what, I was totally wrong. My fellow colleague, an Indian girl is actually quite fond of political talks, and she insisted that she always believe in the oppositions to play their part, to be the check and balance agent to the government. She said it is ridiculous to have one party conquered the 2/3 majority in parliament, let alone to swipe clean all the parliamentary and state seats in the whole country. The idea is totally ridiculous, she said. She and her father even attended some of the political rallies nearby especially during this hot election season.

So there it goes, my exact idea is actually shared with my own officemate, and I believe with most of the Malaysians too. So the taboo of talking politics, especially inter races, afraid that some people might get hurt is quite nonsense. This is our own country, our own freedom. It is our own choice to choose who we want, and who we don’t.

Then my instructor shot me with a killer question,

“So, who will you vote for this coming election?”
“Well, I shall wait and see first, I will choose the most capable leader to represent me and fight for my rights.”
“So you don’t know who you will vote yet?”
“Actually I already made up my mind, but I would love to see what their next move is, how they convince people with their manifesto and such.”

Well, a spontaneous answer from me, greeted with a smile from my instructor and friends.

Six days to go,
HAPPY VOTING!