Onward to Battle! Now whom should we Vote for?

Let us now try to inject some sanity and common sense into the run up to this 13th general elections. The insults, venom and expose are coming in thick and fast from all sides and you need to have your wits about you if you are to make some sense of what is going on. I for one am for using the public domain to air the dirty linens of those who offer themselves for high public office. What they have done while in Public Office must be open to scrutiny and judgement by the people. Then their suitability to serve the people in any capacity will be made by the people at the 13th general election.

We have been overloaded by an avalanche of expose. They range from massive financial frauds that seems to suggest that the Prime Minister himself have either been cuckolded or has colluded in the fraud - right up to the other end - gutter politics that suggest that the high and mighty have basic instincts quiet like ours! Sex is sex whether in Mecca or Kuala Lumpur!

Accusation have been hurled at leaders on both sides of the political spectrum that suggests that all is not well in the inner sanctums of our political kingdom – but again these are really just mischievous attempts to destabilize the already fragile and fraying alliances of men and women with diverging political beliefs and personal ambitions. They all know that to break rank so close to the 13th general election would mean that one harbours a wish to commit Hari Kiri. And so the stage is set for a fight to the finish.

What is left now is for these political elites to figure out how best to hoodwink, lie, cheat, corrupt, persuade, threaten, cajole, buy, insult and when all else fail, to plead and beg the electorates to vote for them! And so let the games begin!

Or have the games already begin? I do not know about you guys but I begin my day not with Ovaltine, Coffee or Nasi Lemak…..I start with MT or should I say Petra?

Not Yang Mulia Raja Petra Kamaruddin, not Pete, not RPK…I know him as Petra. Not as good looking as me (ahem I know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but my wife told me so!) not to big in physical stature but certainly a giant amongst us all that call ourselves bloggers. All those self - publishers and Johnny Come Lately bloggers, including yours truly here, learnt our craft from him. Yes he does put in a bit of spin sometimes…and yes he does embellish and accentuate the ‘facts’ at times….and yes he is full of himself at times…but that is what we all do too. Those are but some of the tools of our trade.

Judging from what I read in MT, the games have already begun! I myself have to make my judgement call on what I am to do if I am to be relevant in what I write. Do I write from Adelaide or do I write from Kuala Lumpur? Do I keep whacking Anwar and PKR at the expense of Pakatan Rakyat or do I close ranks and start sniping at UMNO’s flanks in any way I can? Do I close shop as steadyaku47 and go where some of you have suggest I go (where the sun does not shine lah!) or do I do a Petra? i.e. tell those detractors of mine to go where they have told me to go? Ahhh the permutations are endless and the choice is mine! Just as it will be your choices to do what is best for yourselves, for our people and for our country.

It cannot be denied that Najib is working hard to win this general election for Barisan Nasional. While Anwar plays at being the much-maligned (so he claims) globe trotting political celebrity that is the darling of the international media, Najib is hard at work on the ground in Malaysia. Slowly but surely Najib is chipping away at the very foundation of Pakatan Rakyat’s support amongst the people. If anything we all cannot but give grudging recognition that Najib tries! He is there on the ground, in Malaysia where it really matters –and we are mindful that he does this!

But that does not excuse the excesses of UMNO in the past 50 years of misrule and abuses while in government. That does not excuse money politics, the corruption and the arrogance that is now UMNO! And certainly that does not excuse Altantuya, Teoh Beng Hock, PKFZ, NFC and a host of other scandals and tragedies that is now part and parcel of our political history – a history that UMNO certainly cannot be proud of. A history that now questions UMNO’s ability to continue to govern our country after this 13th general election.

While there was no question asked by the people of whom they would vote for at the 12th general election in order to send a message to UMNO that enough is enough…today in the run up to the 13th general election, Najib has been able to plant a seed of doubt  - that maybe UMNO should still be our choice given that the alternative is DSAI.

AND IF DSAI DOES NOT REALIZE IT NOW THAT HE SHOULD BE MADE AWARE OF THIS TODAY! NOW!      

Najib is gaining ground fast. Pakatan Rakyat is losing it. And we the people are still waiting to be convinced of one or the other  - of PR or BN, of Najib or DSAI, of the devil we know or the angel we are not to sure off.

We are no longer the same people that have been voting Barisan Nasional for the last 50 over years. Nor are we the same people that voted Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 to teach Barisan Nasional a lesson in humility. We now think, discuss and evaluate every word said, every action taken and every deed done by anyone seeking high public office. If you do good, we know. If you do bad we know. So those of you seeking public office take note of this reality. There are enough of us out here to do what is right for our people, our country and our king. Daulat Tuanku! May our King understand the aspirations of his people and do what is right by all of us! And now onwards to the 13th general elections!

And to all my friends out there in bloggerland – do not forget that the work we do might at times find us at odds with each other…but it is just work. We must make time to talk to each other and understand that when all is said and one, when this 13th general election is over and done with – we are all still brothers and sisters – still Malaysian! Still able to sit across the table from each other and talk about the merits of having Nasi Dagang in Kampong Baru as against the Nasi Dagang in Kota Baru….the Chicken Rice in front of the old EPF building in PJ as against the Chicken Rice in those franchised outlet all over town….the ‘semua tarok’ banana leaf restaurant in Kampong Pandan as against the one in Section Five in PJ! Do not take your work too seriously…it is the politicians that have got their future on the line…not us!