Friday, March 7, 2008

Vote for Change

As I write this, the last day for fence sitting is over. Most of us have made up our mind who we want to vote for (I hope!).We have been wooed,seduced,cajoled,threatened and warned. Personally my convictions are set in stone. It's time for a change. I want someone new to be given the chance to administer this country. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not anti-government and I’m not pro-government. I have no issues with the government except for the fact that a lot of employees are just driftwood, floating aimless with no fixed purpose except to collect an undeserved paycheck at the end of the month. (But that’s another blog for another time)

We've given BN the mandate for far too long. It's patently ridiculous that any political party should maintain a monopoly on administration. Complacency sets in. Corruption and it's siblings, nepotism and cronyism become far too enmeshed to be removed any other way except for a revolution. I'm not taking of a revolution in the sense of "let rise and revolt!". It's just means a complete turnaround from the way we used to do things.
A new administration would give us the chance to start over, to enact changes that have real consequences for the public, to draft laws and pass resolutions that point us toward a true democracy. No wants to upset an unstable craft, the status quo for the Princes of the Earth can be maintained but just not at the expense of the other races.

Obviously my idealism gets ahead of me but i have to believe that the country can change. I want to believe that people will see whats wrong with the country as it is now and will be willing to make sacrifices to effect the change we so desperately need. I will not believe that people are by their very nature selfish and ethnocentric and they will not want to change even if it's the right thing to do. It's probably naivete on my part but i can learn to live with it.

If there is one thing i have learnt this past few months; people matter and they can make a difference. The Hindraf movement has single handedly raised political awareness among the Indians to an all time high. It's impossible to bump into another Indian without some mention of Hindraf or the Hindraf 5. All this is because the Indian communities have real life heroes. Every Indian should mention their names in a litany when saying a prayer. I only hope that we Indians will honour their sacrifice by casting our vote for change. It does not matter whether we win or lose, only that we do the right thing. The right thing simply means that for once, the entire Indian community must come together in a show of solidarity and commit ourselves for a cause greater than any one of us can imagine. We are striving to make this wondrous country we call home truly home.

This is the motherland. We are striving to give every Indian the right to be educated and a contributing member of society. What we are not striving for is handouts and affirmative action programmes that favour us. We only want what is rightfully ours.
C0me Sunday, a new era will dawn for Malaysian politics and the Indian people. We can only hope and pray that the change we so fervently wish for takes place. A different administration that will govern in a just manner and an Indian party that will not hoodwink and short change us. The lives of our children and their children depend on the course this country will take. I fear that this is our last best hope for change. The momentum is at is strongest now and quite possibly it will never be replicated. I sincerely hope that my next blog posting will be about new order of change and how BN were defeated.


Told you i'm naive!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Makkal Sakthi!