Ah ... today in the National University Of Malaysia, campus elections will be held. We shall rejoice as we watch the beautiful process of Malaysian Democracy. I say Malaysian Democracy because of the slightly different way the University handles it. First of all if you go to the main voting centre (Pusanika) you will see that everything is as a proper democratic voting should be.
Then we move on to the University hostels. These hostels requires that all of its inhabitants vote at the hostel itself. Now for the part that is really interesting and different from normal democracy, the collage will list out your voting slip / ballot number and then ask you to vote. What this means is that the people in the collage will later check back to see who you voted for. Perposterous, you say ? The story gets better.
If you did not vote for the pro-University party , you get kicked out of the hostel, of course offically on paper you are kicked out by "random" selection. Here is the even more fun part, if you feel that it is not fair and you did not vote at all as a sign of protest .. guess what ? Yup, you still get kicked out ... so whether you like it or not , vote for the pro-establishment faction in the University. To hell with your right to vote.
Now for people like me , getting kicked out of the hostel isn't a bad thing. I could only stand staying at a University hostel for my 1st semester only. I like my freedom. Unfortunately for most UKM students, they find the hassle of finding a place to live and to arrange transportation to come and go to classes and thus are cowed and end up voting for who the University wants them to.
Of course it isn't all bad. If you win , depending on how many votes supporting the pro-university were cast, your hostel will get either a TV or a toaster or such appliances.
And that ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell, is the status of campus election in UKM nowadays. We shall know soon whether this trend will end or will the university maintain this corrupt practice. Sad .
Only one more thing that makes me even more depressed then this. The fact that these kind of unfairness is not covered in the news or TV or even in other blogs. There is nothing being done to stop this and when someone writes about it , it is covered up and made into harmless rumour.
Sigh ... |
At 9:25 AM,
Oh come on man, we've all known about this rubbish for ages. Universiti elections are as big a joke here as the Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy. Plus they're just training the monkeys the for a life in politics, its not like they'll be able to get real jobs once they graduate since the Unis don't teach them any useful skills beyond....nope can't think of anything.
Still bribery is the preferred mode of getting elected, its not like people care about issues anyway. See here's how it works in the real work.
Atuk lives in the kampung and spends his days plucking fruit, planting padi and fishing in the nearby brook, and his nights impregnating his multiple wives and a couple of his daughters. The government doesn't give a crap about him, doesn't pass any policies that would truly help him and his people.
Come election time the potential MP/Minister/etc will suddenly show up at Atuk's how all concerned about his well being. Give him 50 buck. Atuk gets all hot under the collar at having someone 'important' visit him (remember your post before on the Malaysia title fetish) and it never hurts to have extra tongkat ali money to aid in banging his up till now neglected underaged daughters, his sons, and a few of the family goats.
Of course this is overly dramatised, but think about this. How many indian folks do you know that constantly bitch about Samy Vellu. I know dozens. Guess what, if Samy comes to their houses they'll all gush and fawn over him instead of telling him to fuck off.
I pity you, being surrounded by morons that aren't allowed to think for themselves. Its sad that this doesn't come out in the papers much, well there have been a few articles in the Sun. But let's face it man, we're more concerned with our 'Clash of the Titans'
At 11:00 AM,
Viva le politics!
Life wouldn't be as fun without power-hungry politicians. Its the idiots that gives us trouble.
At 11:05 AM,
Haha, Malaysia sucks. Come here to Singapore instead of your third world country.
At 4:33 PM,
hmm... i wonder, which is sadder? living it utter ignorance, or being able to see the truth but not having the power to do squat abbout it.