KEEMANXP Dot Com

Alas, today is nomination day for Malaysia’s 12th general election. And as election day is getting nearer and nearer, the various mantra and voices heard from both the government camp as well as the opposition can be rather disturbing to your ears. Of course, eligible voters like me will be pondering whether or not to exercise their rights! And if you can’t think of a good reason to comfort yourself from being "accused" of not voting, i offer you my 4 good old reasons NOT to vote in the upcoming election.

1. Not Voting is Popular – Yeah, contrary to popular belief, not voting is in fact popular in Malaysia! Malaysia has about 25 million population, and out of this number, there are only 10.5 million eligible voters. And if my mathematics is correct, that’s 42% of the population, with another 10% never register as a voter. And history has shown that out of this 42%, only 32% of the eligible voters will go out and vote! So here’s the big picture: 48% Not eligible to vote + 10% never register + 10% don’t bother = 68% stay at home! The remaining 32% will join in the fun of electing their victor who will govern the country for another 4-5 years, all in the principle of "MAJORITY Rule" (32%?).

2.Too Much Hassle –  I bet most people use this reason. Imagine you’re working in Johor Bahru and have to go or drive all the way back to Kelantan or Perlis, just to cast your vote. Not to mention the heavy traffics that you need to cope with. And yeah I’ll be checking the statistics of how many eligible voters had died on election day due to road accidents, but i can assure you the number is alarming! 🙂

3. It’s Dangerous to Vote! – In relation to reason No. 2, it’s dangerous to vote because the chance of ONE vote out of that 10 million casts will affect the outcome is much LOWER than the probability of being accidentally killed en route to the polling place! Be it road accidents, sudden attack by radical groups, or even being mistakenly identified as an opposition leader and get hit by the FRU!

4. It’s not Democratic at all – This is pretty much related to Reason 1. How can the "winning party" claimed that they have the majority rule when only 32% of the population vote for them. What about the other 68%? Isn’t that "minority rule" instead. Not forgetting the ever popular arguments on our election comission, the head whom is chosen by the "ruling party". Don’t you think the comission should be neutral? So, if you don’t want to be part of this "immoral acts", please don’t go and vote!

Well, for those who are not convinced with my four reasons, you can go ahead and vote, but do not force others to follow you! Besides, it’s our rights to vote, and it’s also our rights NOT to vote!