“Why vote when nothing changes?”.

“Why vote when nothing changes?”. ..“Why vote when there will be MPs who will sell the rakyat’s mandate..?? as had happened in Sabah, Perak and then on the Federal level by the Sheraton Move?”.

While many including myself had expected more from PH’s rule and ended up disappointed, I do not regret volunteering and voting at GE14.

These are my 5 reasons why :

1. Charges were laid against those who were corrupt. Najib was convicted and - 3 courts found him guilty and now he is serving time. #TangkapNajib became a reality.

If BN wasn’t defeated in 2018, Najib would not have been arrested and the charges would never have been laid as the previous AG had cleared Najib of wrongdoing. GE14 allowed Malaysia to have a new AG appointed from the Malaysian Bar and that made a difference. Not only were there charges laid against people in high office, Malaysia went to recoup and recover funds stolen from us. Love or hate Tommy Thomas, he got the job done during his short term as AG.

2. The judiciary post 2018 has been further emboldened and strengthened. As shown in the many episodes of court drama the last two years, the Judges conducting the “high profile” proceedings were steadfast in upholding the law and the rule of law. The judges’ unwavering courage & judicious temperament in facing the individual assaults and challenges were inspirational and gave me hope. The judiciary is one institution we all can be proud of.

Without 2018, we may not have the current Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun leading the judiciary as the previous Chief was given an “extension” by Najib’s PMO of a further 3 years after his retirement age of 66, and the the President of the Court of Appeal a further 2 years “extension” after the retirement age. Both “extensions” were purportedly re-appointments or new appointments. The two top judges accepted the appointments notwithstanding that the Federal Constitution provides that a judge reaching retirement age may be granted a further term of only 6 months extension. The Malaysian Bar filed a suit to challenge the PMO’s decision. With the change of government in 2018, we saw a change in the judiciary. The then Chief Justice and the President of Court of Appeal both resigned in June 2018.

I believe that had BN continued to rule, the current composition of judges in Malaysia’s superior courts today may well be different.

3) The 2018 GE14 also brought a change in the composition of the Electoral Commission (EC). The new PH governement formed a Tribunal to look into allegations of misconduct leveled against the Election Commission (EC) for their role in the preparation and conduct of GE14. Almost immediately after that, 6 EC Commissioners resigned from office. (Note: like Judges, EC Commisioners cannot be sacked unless found guilty of misconduct). With the retirement of the commissioners, we have today a different EC. If BN continued to rule, there is no question of having any reforms within the EC, let alone a free and fair election.

Had BN continued to rule, will there be a change of laws allowing Malaysians above 18 to be automatically registered to vote? I don’t know, but I am glad that now GE15 will see an additional 7.8 million voters, a majority of whom are youths 20 and below!

The new EC since 2018 has been earnestly cleaning up the electoral roll, something I doubt we would have witnessed had BN continued to rule.

4) Parliament had seen some good reforms after Tan Sri Ariff Yusof was appointed as Speaker. There has been greater transparency in Parliament with televised debates. More Parliamentary Select/Special Committees have been formed.

5) The nation has changed - remember how Malaysians got organised with #KitaJagaKita and the white flag movement during the lockdowns when we had #KerajaanGagal? Remember the jubilant celebration that night in May 2018 after votes were tallied ? That night Malaysians proved Ketuanan Rakyat - we sought to reclaim the nation and we did. The rakyat has been empowered (though economically empoverished) and we can get rid of #KerajaanGagal through GE15. We now have greater participation by ordinary Malaysians into politics - Automatic registration of voters allowing easier access to voting, overseas and postal voters are better organised, people have been trained as PACAs and observers in GE14 and I believe we will see many new fresh candidates and hopefully that will mean greater diversity (at the very least more women and more youthful candidates - ie those below 40 years old).

I believe we made good strides with 2018 GE14, some of which are still present today and had not been destroyed by the treachery of the Sheraton Move.

We all know who stand on the OTHER side of the Rakyat’s mandate - the ones who betrayed us with the Sheraton Move, the ones who stabbed us by morphing into frogs and the ones who betrayed everyone by courting frogs. Yes, that includes some PH candidates who thought nothing of horsetrading on the Rakyat’s mandate if it means regaining power.

Let GE15 show that Malaysians do not forget that easily. Teach these traitors a lesson - that the Rakyat’s mandate is not a commodity for sale and that frogs do not get re-elected. In the same vein of anger - if PH allows any frogs back into their fold, God help them!

With the automatic registration of voters, I really hope (yes optimistically) that a big number of Malaysians will come out to vote this coming GE15 with the anticipation of getting a better government and with the knowledge that their votes do count.

For me, the greatest motivation to vote in GE15 is the fear that I may wake up to a Malaysia helmed by Zahid Hamidi and his band of brothers.

By RChoi