Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 26 May 2013 12:21 PM PDT
It just might be that what Malaysians need to do is to go back to the polls. Christopher Fernandez, FMT More Malaysian voters who have begun to weigh heavily towards Pakatan Rakyat (PR) are absolutely devastated that it is instead Barisan Nasional (BN) that has been installed as the government–of-the-day after the 13th GE. Saying and describing that the majority of voters, as the popular votes were in favour of Pakatan, were "devastated" is to put it mildly as tens of thousands of Pakatan supporters are gathering at mass rallies to protest against the outcome of the 13th GE. While Pakatan has stopped short of organising mass rallies and to take to the streets in the form of mass demonstrations, their leaders have nevertheless gone to the ground to get the rakyat to nullify the results of the recently-concluded general election. Going by the huge turnouts at these rallies, with Pakatan claiming that they have been robbed of victory by the Election Commission (EC) and BN partnering to ensure victory for the latter, Malaysians of all walks of life, including non-voters are beginning to realize that all is not well in the political arena. By and large, it might be that the best solution would be to call for fresh general election, only this time round with major changes being made in how the election proper is conducted. Change the electoral system If more and more Malaysians are of the view and believe that there were the tampering of votes and other possible irregularities, they have every right to believe so because there is no smoke without fire. For them to believe that all was not well at the 13th GE is really to smell a single rat somewhere and this is enough to suspect that the whole and entire process of the 13th GE was conducted in a dubious manner which creates distrust and suspicion among voters and Malaysians. While Pakatan leaders going to the ground to argue their case before the people is a fair and good idea, the opposition coalition probably needs to ask Malaysians to agree to go to the polls again, only this time round with major changes to the electoral system. It is really the electoral system that has failed us Malaysians. Therefore there is a need for all the political stakeholders in this country to come together and agree to conduct free and fair polls by a reformed EC. Only by ensuring that the EC undergoes great structural changes and conforms wholly and totally to the tenets and obligations of parliamentary democracy, can Malaysians be assured that democracy is in place in this country. This means the results of the 13th GE must be declared null and void before the two sides of the political divide sit down to discuss terms and conditions of a free and fair polls to be undertaken by an EC that is approved by both sides of the political divide. As it stands, it looks as if Pakatan is totally unhappy with the way the present EC has conducted the 13th GE as they have more and more questions highlighting irregularities and have grave doubts cast over whether the general election was free of interference and manipulation. Read more at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/05/27/going-back-to-the-polls/
|
| Posted: 26 May 2013 12:10 PM PDT
Throughout my entire journalistic career, I've always had to walk this line - entertain my reader, but not at the expense of losing an advertiser. At the end of the day, a business's main responsibility is to its customers. Can you, the freeloading reader, really blame them if they run articles that aren't in your best interests? Lau Chak Onn, fz.com THE recent boycott of mainstream media has left us with online as our main source of media. So why are people still so reluctant to pay for it? Recently, a guy posted something up on my Facebook about thinking twice before boycotting a major newspaper, as it had thousands of employees who had families to fee and whose jobs were now at risk. My first thoughts were of incredulity - if a company wasn't selling me something I liked, why would I feel the need to support its continued existence? But a few troll posts later, I realised something else - perhaps there weren't enough jobs in other forms of media for these poor shmucks. Apparently after GE13, we're supposed to be boycotting radio stations, newspapers and television. Although television is probably like the old man in the apartment upstairs passing on quietly in the night and no one noticing for weeks, the first two are actually surprisingly still a part of my media diet. I listen to the radio whenever I run out of music, and read newspapers every time I need a good laugh. However, there's no denying that like many youngsters today (a demographic I'm barely clinging on to), I go online to get most of my information. Some of it is from news sites, some from links recommended by friends, and some from sites which I pay to subscribe to. Many of the same people who participated in that thread about the newspaper boycott are the same people staring at me like an alien from another planet when I tell them that I pay for online content. Why pay when I can get it for free? So let me explain myself. You see, writers need to eat.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan