The word democracy is made up of two Greek words, demos and kratos .

Demos means people and kratos means rule. A democracy is therefore a rule by the people; and not a blind rule by their leaders. In any constitutional democracy, the most important political and civil right and responsibility is to vote in elections. If one does not vote, or is not registered to vote, one should not really express public political opinions. One is only an empty vessel when you do that.

In a Constitutional democracy, it is the rule of law principle which give such rights and responsibilities to all citizens or the people; to exercise their democratic right and responsibility to evaluate the system of governance of the day, and then to exercise their vote accordingly, every five years as in our case. The party with a majority based on the first past the post principle gets elected for a new five-year term.

At every general election, the ordinary citizen can exercise two kinds of votes; one for the state assemblyperson or Adun and the other for a member of Parliament, our representative in the highest law-making body. To sustain a democracy, every citizen must vote without fear or favour. That is also our basic constitutional right and democratic responsibility. If you are not registered to vote; then only are you not a patriot!

As a patriotic and concerned citizen, I have voted ever since I was 21; thanks to my father\’s nurturing to always be politically conscientious and responsible. Schooling at the RMC only confirmed these values. The only times I did not vote were when I was overseas, and was not responsible enough to register as a postal voter. In the past, every time, I have voted either for the opposition or the government; based on my own perception of the nature of governance fulfilled by the government of the day, and the quality of the representative I am offered to elect.

Without fear or favour

Without fear I can say that many times I have voted the government down; and once, I even voted the whole system down, meaning I consciously voted to spoil my vote. You see that is what a democracy means; one is free to walk and talk with one\’s choices through the ballot box. The voice one gives to such issues is what works to improve governance and defines the nature of a maturing democracy. Voting out of fear or blind obedience does not build a democracy.

With the general election around the corner, and as I reflect on the governance at the level of my lived experience over the past three and half years, I have three reasons why I should vote the government down. As a Christian, I am called to always be a responsible citizen and fully obedient to authorities. I am therefore fully respectful of the Federal Constitution and all institutions of democratic governance already established in this country since 50 years ago.

I therefore declare that my views are simply those of a conscientious citizen who takes his democratic rights and responsibilities seriously. I do not belong to any political party, or subscribe to any particular stated political view of the world. I am a social activist, and am also currently involved in the Citizen\’s Think Tank Group; a group created to evaluate and report on the performance of both MPs and Aduns in our own constituencies. Such a promise of a Report Card for all MPs was made by the government but they seem to have reneged on that promise. So, some citizens have started this initiative.

My article can also be viewed as my contribution to the general thesis of why we formed the CTT. We want to make MPs and Aduns more accountable and responsible to us, the citizens, and not simply to their party or blindly to the government of the day. It is we who vote and we will and can determine who gets elected, not just the party who selects the representative. I belong to the Athenian democracy school of thought wherein I believe in participative governance and not just representative governance. Yes, we elect representatives, but they work for us and not for their party; and especially not blindly. The \”close one-eye and shut the other\” culture is therefore getting to me, especially after the latest Auditor General\’s Report amplified the contents and consequences of such a system-wide practice. As ordinary citizens, we can demand and expect integrity, at least from our MPs and Aduns.

Three reasons

Therefore, my three reasons for voting down the government of the day regardless of whom they put as their representative in my parliamentary and state constituencies are:

– First is the issue of leadership integrity. I voted for the Pak Lah government at the last general election and even convinced all my friends to do so, simply because I believed in Pak Lah and all the promises he made. He has not delivered on many of his promises. Granted, five years is not enough, but surely the political will and intent will be visible by now, if there is any. I do not see it yet, having served as a government servant of 32 years. Neither Umno at the highest level nor MCA at the grassroots level (in my constituency) gives me confidence that Pak Lah, given another five years will and can make a difference. The gap between his espoused theory and his theory-in-use is far too great for me to give him another chance, at least in this election. Maybe the next one; if we can send a clear and unequivocal message about what we think of his \”integrity agenda,\” through this coming election.

– Second, my representatives at the grass-roots level have also let me down. During the 1999 elections, I brought both the Adun and my then future MCA MP to review the situation of the \”rape of the green lung in my neighborhood.\” Alas, the government cronies did what they wanted to do; they raped our 30-year-old green lung without even a proper hearing. In fact, one Adun and state executive councilor who chaired an informal meeting arranged by my friends at the Petaling Jaya land office even made some false and empty promises. Today they have destroyed the green lung in the name of development and our children are becoming \’Mat Rempits\’ and we do not understand why. I hope those interested in this issues would read a book by SH Nasr entitled, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man . Sorry MCA representatives, even if Mr Ong Ka Ting personally appeals to me, I cannot vote one of yours as you are part of the problem.

– Thirdly, local governance is at its worst ever. How can the government of the day be arbitrary in the \”governance of the public spaces of life?\” While Citizen Nades has been fighting through writing (exercising the power of the pen), it appears to no avail. The funeral parlour continues without fear or favor. The advertisement billboards and the arbitrary ways of setting them clearly smells of corruption and abuse of the rule of law. What bothers me is that if Nades dares to write so much, always claiming to have the facts and figures (and he is also a lawyer by training), why is there lethargy when it comes to \”enforcement and investigation?\” Why do the enforcement authorities fear to meet with him and take him seriously? There may be many things to hide!

For the future

Finally, having been a government officer myself, I would have loved to work with (not for) Pak Lah on the integrity and corruption issues and problems. Honestly, one does not have to be brilliant to get that simple job done. Tan Sri JG Daniel, who passed away recently, did that without fanfare, to everyone\’s knowledge. Just simply understand the real issues and focus on getting the job done. But, very few senior government officers appear to have really and fully understood this. Please use the law to highlight the issues under your charge and take action under the law. Almost every public policy issue is covered by public law. Even as \”controlling officers,\” (or, chief financial officers, if you may) you have all the necessary legal authority to do what is right.

In fact, the current chief secretary, the auditor- general and the new ACA chief appear to be rare examples of this model of doing right by the law. They know fully that even ministers are under the law, and therefore can be investigated. Frankly, I am amused that the Minister of Youth and Sports could direct the secretary-general to \”overspend his budget.\” Where in the Financial Procedures Act do we find such provisions assigned to the minister? Can someone explain? To my knowledge, only the Parliament has the authority to approve supplementary budgetary allocations, and not even the cabinet. So, to me it was a breath of fresh air that the ACA chief was quoted as saying he can investigate and take action against ministers, based on the Auditor-General\’s Report. That gives me some confidence but let us watch this wayang kulit before believing what has been said.

Consequently, unless I see an independent candidate like Raja Petra Kamarudin or Zaid Ibrahim or even Tunku Aziz standing in my kawasan for issues related to Constitutional integrity, rule of law, greater accountability and transparency, I am sorry Mr Government but this time you do not deserve my vote. I pray that you learn a serious lesson about arrogance of authority and the lack of civility. Furthermore, this action is also for the future of our children and grand children in Malaysia, and for a longer term sustainable multi-racial Malaysia. God Bless Malaysia over next 50 years. Happy 44th Malaysia Day!