In the US and the UK, voter apathy is partially explained by the lack of choice. The two main contending parties in each case are so similar in policies and outlook that there’s not much from which to choose. One’s a centre-left and the other’s a centre-right. But they’re both essentially middle-of-the-way parties.

In Malaysia, voter apathy could also probably be explained by the lack of choice. Unfortunately, here, that’s more because the offerings on the table are so different and in one case, so unthinkable - at least to me, that there’s not much of a choice at all. This is compounded by the fact that, and I can’t stress this enough, the absolute results, i.e. who will be forming the next government, is known. With certainty. By all. (see this earlier post)

There’s a different dimension to voter apathy and that’s the apathy to action.

It’s not that I haven’t made up my mind where I would place my cross on the ballot paper. While I am an “undecided voter”, I am undecided about whether I will go and vote at all - I am not undecided about where that vote will go if I did go and vote.

There are academic studies about this phenomenon. Voting, i.e. to actually go out and vote, is not a “cost-less” affair. Each of us who choose to do so bears some cost, but we each weigh that cost differently, depending on our individual lifestyle, obligations, political inclinations, and expectation of the effect of our votes. And in Malaysia, there is also the non-negligible geographical consideration - we do not necessarily live in the area in which we are forced to cast our ballots. For me, it is largely a physiological consideration (see this post). Those who suffer from migraines will understand.

Meanwhile, I’m suffering from a case of BN-overdose. Not only is it in all the newspapers (both the advertisements and the reports, not to mention the overt campaigning in the commentaries and leaders section) and all over town, it is now literally right in front of my house - all around that balding field I mentioned a couple of post ago. Overnight, the BN machinery has surrounded that field with a fence of banners, so glaring and obvious you’d have to be blind to not notice it. If there ever was a reason to induce BN-bulimia, this was it.

Posted on March 20th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: My Malaysia | 1 Comment »

This is probably going to be another one of those personality tests that everyone ends up taking before blogging about it across the virtual world like wildfire.

According to this test, which was first spotted here, this is me:

Ki System
Natal Year number: 1
Jikon has the ability to adapt himself to a variety of challenges, and thus has a creative potential that may find expression in art, design, music or literary work. But with a cautious approach to life, he rarely discloses his innermost thoughts.

Natal Month number: 7
Jikon is a good communicator and enjoys discussion, but he will avoid stressful situations and arguments. He is a fund of new ideas that spill from his active brain with great rapidity, but his business dealings will always be constrained by his desire to be liked. He therefore lacks those long-term goals that would bring him prosperity.

Natal House number: 8
Somewhat stubborn when pushed too far, Jikon is inclined to be one of those people who cannot see the wood for the trees. In effect his methodical approach leads him to become immersed in the detail and thus lose touch with the ultimate aim. Although he may be financially successful, he is not one to display that wealth in an ostentatious manner.

Posted on March 20th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: Notable: Personal | No Comments »

Well.. maybe it’s time to be clear about who I am.

And I don’t think that love is here in this expensive suite,
in this lovely hotel,
in Paris.
- Sex and the City, Season 6, Episode 20

We’re all being brainwashed. From the day we were born until our very last breath. When we read, when we watch telly, when we shop. In almost every socio-cultural activity, we’re being socialised, either directly or indirectly, consciously or otherwise, to believe in the ultimate goal of life - finding a dream partner and living happily ever after.

In the fantasies that we’ve all been lead to believe, there is no separation. There is no divorce. There are no arguments or disagreements. There are no nappies to change, no laundry to pick up, no roofs to mend. Love is not lost. And passion never dies. Life, the ultimate life, is perfect. It is not just rosy. It is every colour of the rainbow.

From childhood on, we’ve all been duped into believing in the happily ever after. We’ve signed up to the idea that life without the ultimate romantic, over the top, gushy-mushy love, is not life. And a relationship that does not survive until death do you part, is not a relationship. We’ve all conveniently forgotten that relationships are frequently monotonous, rational, unexciting and pragmatic. Not to mention difficult, messy, painful and full of friction - and not only of the sexual kind.

Well… I don’t believe in that anymore.

Posted on March 19th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: Notable: Personal | 8 Comments »

(1) Is it just the area in which I live and where I work or has traffic actually been rather good in the mornings this whole week, particularly from Tuesday onwards?!? I wonder if everyone’s taken leave to campaign!??

(2) More relevantly, why is it that we are always instructed to “tick” our options in any form in Malaysia but are now asked to “cross” them in the elections?!? Personally, I prefer to cross my options - it’s more obvious that way, but Malaysian forms seem to always ask for “ticks”. Why the difference?

Posted on March 19th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: My Malaysia | 2 Comments »

Three more days to go and I haven’t decided if I will be voting on Sunday.

My reasons for not going are rather trivial: (1) I no longer live in the constituency wherein I’m registered. So there will have to be some travelling involved if I were to go exercise my right to vote. However, I’m living in the next constituency, so it’s not really far. (2) If I were to go vote, it will have to be before 11H at the latest. Otherwise I’m susceptible to (rather bad) headaches (that stay with me the whole day) once the sun comes out, particularly on weekends. However I just can’t see myself waking up early and travelling 30 minutes before the coffee has set in on a Sunday morning.

On the other hand, even if I did vote, I’m not sure for whom I will do so. The decision is not an easy one - at least not if you really thought about it. However, if I didn’t think too much about it, I know which way I will cast my say… Things are less clear at the national level, but at the local level it’s simpler.

First, there’s this. Secondly, there’s my experience with the constituency in which I do live. In the seven years that I’ve been here I haven’t once seen or heard from the MP or the State Assembly persons at all. Then all of a sudden in the last two weeks, we’ve received flyers inviting us once to a meeting with the local police to discuss crime issues and once to meet the local councillors. How timely!

But more importantly, I feel that the quality of life has fallen in the last five years. Crime has definitely gone up - I’ve had one petty theft and a house burglary in the last year alone. The traffic situation has become worse thanks to over-development and bad planning - but at the same time the roads around my area have not been resurfaced in seven years whereas a little-used road on the periphery has been done up at least three or four times (I wonder why?). I get more brown water from the taps now than I did in previous years. And the field in front of our house has gone completely bald and no one has bothered to replant the grass - so I get dust blowing into my living room. I could go on… but I wouldn’t.

The incumbent will not have my sympathy. But then, I’m not voting in the area I now live. However, with little else to go on, if I did go and vote, I will have to base my decision on the experience I did have. And that, unfortunately, has not been terribly positive.

But no. I have not made up my mind if I would go and vote at all. I’m still debating the relative cost of the 30 minute travelling each way and the risk of a minor migraine against the relative benefit of not changing the ultimate outcome but only affecting the relative one, which, given the current climate, in my view, is debatable to begin with…

Posted on March 18th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: My Malaysia | 7 Comments »