Why “F**k Politics” is Just a Shallow Statement (II)
Our young generation loath such demagoguery of social order. In fact, some of the veteran politicians loath it too. But since a significant bulk of our political machinery and apparatus- both within the Government and Opposition are made up of hot heads that are much more crude in aiming slurs and accusations than drafting good policies, many of our Youths today remained sceptical of politics and of the relevance of politics.
Forget We Not
We have forgotten that the bulwark of politics and political discrimination faced are not to be blamed on politics, political ideologies or the legislative instrument per se. We have to remember, that the voices of politicians and of political parties are merely the echoes of the people. By shunning politics, by denigrating politics – we are no better if not worse than the politicians who had flount extremism and racism in the sphere of our nation.
Why? It’s simple – because we did nothing to stop such rogue perceptions in politics. The cardinal rule (no, it has nothing to do with Catholicism) in a democratic country is simple – politicians could only voice out the voice of the people who vote. If you do not vote, you cannot change what the politicians say. Those Mercedes driving politicians surrounded by throngs of bodyguards are actually at the mercy of YOUR VOTE. Not voting for him does not count as an opposition to that kind of lifestyle. Only VOTING AGAINST that politician would count. This makes voting an important and a decisive factor of who you are.
Instead of lamenting that we do not have rightful politicians leading the country – why not we lead the country instead? Or be an activist? Or the least you could do – vote? What is so damn difficult in voting for the leader or party that you believe could offer better governance?
Heck, what if you dislike the current political parties? If you think that BN is too ‘establishment’ or ‘old-school’ in form, and you also believe that the PR is an incompetent slur-bashing party – then you can create your own party. Or an economically better solution - voice your opinion in blogs or altenative medias. Sure you could get the ball rolling. Political activism do not require you to walk down the streets bringing placards and banners. Those are political manifestations. Political activism means getting your voice heard, and chorusing together with those who agree with your opinion. Doesn’t matter if it’s the opposition or g0vernment. Some issues are better fought on a non-partisan platform.
Our generation, so to speak lack the political will to be involved in politics. We believe that we do not have anything else to fight for.
“The Brits are out, the War’s over, the Commies gone – what else is there to fight for?” said our young Oracles. “Plus, we hate fighting about religion and race like those bigoted politicians! Enough seed of mistrusts have been sowed” we lamented. Then again I repeat – we have forgotten the ideas and precepts of a democratic country. As the people we can unite and go against such form of politics. Are we not a democratic country?
More often than not, we abhor such politics but neither did we speak our opinions in the poll. We lament, we whined, we complained – but none reach the ballot box. Yet we chided the people who voted racist politicians. How irony – we didn’t even stop those little-Hitlers from springing up to power!
Therefore my fellow generation, it is about time we take up our responsibility to vote, and vote wisely. Remember, it’s not about whether or not these bigoted politicians would lose in the next election. But it is about us showing the world that there exists a more vibrant and dynamic generation that shall replace the bigoted and misogynistic generation in Malaysia.
Remember – you do not need to be a political party member to vote. You vote for your conscience. You vote for yourself. Therefore, my dearest generation – if you think that politics is just a fucked up business – think again. Democracy gives us the tools we need to choose who our leaders are, as well as influencing how the country should be run.
The reason why Youth today lack political will has to be credited to Dr. M’s move in setting up the UUAC to stop students from joining political movements and concentrate on their studying. It was implemented shortly before Ops Lalang occurred. And as most of us know, Ops Lalang led to the ISA crackdown and the effective shutting up of freedom of expression.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t take initiative. But in a country where corruption and iron reign over expression is wide, it proves almost impossible for us to really express ourselves w/o the ISA knocking on your doorstep. Talk about affirmative action, race and religion issues in this country and the government will send you a letter warning you.
The media shapes social perspective. And how can society evolve and liberate if the media is under the iron reign of the government and blatantly disallows anyone from having informed choices and allowing the media to play a neutral role? We need a one-time anarchy strike to change things – Not a slow reform. As long as the government puts blindfolds and ties the tongues of truth and keep the society in the dark – No one’s gonna change anything.
Just my two cents which probably doesn’t make sense,
-Aziff A.
Dear Aziff,
We may blame many parts of the past to justify the Youth’s reluctance in participating in politics. We may even accuse the communists, the so-called “renegade” oppositions or any other part of the Malaysian society. But that however, would not solve the problem we are facing – which is the lack of participation among the youths. Youths nowadays are very much vocal in voicing out their opinions against the government. But the sad fact remains, it’s all just a jabbering and no action taken. In our words, it’s NATO (No-Action, Talk-Only). The British government too faced the same problem. Thus the introduction of Politics in their curriculum to ensure that the people actually do understand the mechanism of democracy as well as their rights. Lack of political activism is thus, not a problem specific to Malaysia. Even Obama addressed the issue of political apathy among youths in his presidential campaign speeches.
As noted, the vast majority that actually dislike the government did not actually vote. The complains made were unsuccessful based on different level of reasons. First, as they do not vote – the opposition would not win the election thus making the policy of the status quo government intact. Secondly, even if the opposition is incompetent this group of generation would not do anything to rectify it. Why? Because of the culture of blaming others for everything. Everybody has their ego of being the smartest in the bunch. Let’s take football matches for an example. Just observe how many coaches and super-coaches debating over tactics and faults after each match. Look at how emotional they were when criticizing people like Maradona, Wenger or Ferguson. Give them a blzer each and a chewing gum to chew, you could’ve sworn that they are professional football coaches. Yet give these critics a team each, and they would realize that it is difficult to manage a football team. The same goes with politics. It is easy for us to criticize the politicians for their inept attitudes etc. But then again, if we don’t even vote or participate to change the facade of our politics we would be no better if not worse than those fat-rich ministers. At least the fat ministers tried, no matter how feeble to create stability. At least the clumsy oppositions tried to change Malaysia for something they believe is better. What do we do to make our country better? As JFK said, “ask not what your country do for you, but ask what you do for your country”. The least we could do is to participate. Participating does not mean that we are fanatics of political parties. No. That is not the essence of democracy. Democracy means that we, the moderate voice of Malaysians too have a voice and say in our politics.
To a certain level, I do dislike the ISA. But it is a form of necessity in a country as diverse as Malaysia. The sad part is that most of the time ISA has been used and abused to capture political dissents, not racist politicians. Capturing citizens who openly question the affirmative action, Ketuanan Melayu and Islam while allowing racist politicians to slender the minorities such as the Chinese, the Indians, Christians and others do not make sense. If there is an ISA, it should only be used to curb radicals and terrorists ala Guantanamo. And that’s my humble opinion. On the matter of whether or not ISA has been abused – I agree with you, it has been misused for a long time.
Anarchy sounds like an attractive idea. Indeed, revolution is very seductive to me as it is to you. However, one must note that an anarchic revolution is in no way an ideal, particularly in a globalized world. We have trades with many countries, which may not continue trading with us due to the anarchic revolution. This would hamper the people’s spirit, and people would be disillusioned with the anarchic revolutionary ideals. This would bring the Ancien Régime back, being more repressive than before. And least we forget, a revolutionary force would instigate the rise of counter-revolutionary force thus plunging the nation into a civil war. Besides, isn’t joining a revolution too makes us participants of politics. Despite being more radical, it is still considered participating in politics as well. And heck, a ballot revolution is still a revolution. The large number of youth voting, simmering with fresh and radical ideas is the best revolution. But an anarchic revolution is rather counter productive. Malaysians share a temperament in which, an anarchic form of revolution would be quickly shunned. Rosli Dhobi tried to initiate an anarchic revolution to repel the British. But his action backfired when people were repulsed by his action. The number of of anti-Cessionist at that time dwindled after Rosli Dhobi’s affair. So was the Communist insurgency. They too tried to rid Malaysia from the British yoke. But their violent actions were not received well by the people. So Aziff, no – I have to say an anarchic revolution is just counter-productive.
Thus said, political participation is the way forward for us if we would like to forge a new cast for our future. Quoting a friend of mine Rafi, “Without participation, there is no right to representation. When there is no representation, there is no right to dissent. When there is no dissent, there is no right to demand change.” Even a single dissenting vote means a lot. Treskow who tried to assasinate Hitler once said, “it’s not about whether or not we succeed, but rather (it’s about) at least we did something”. The same principle when we boycott Israel made products. It won’t affect their sales, but it means a lot to the occupied Palestinians and the world.
You want a revolution? Let’s do it. A ballot revolution. Heck, even this revolution already has a name – “The Ballot Revolution”.