Every voter should know what his or her vote is worth

January 13, 2012 | By Anas Zubedy, Kuala Lumpur

THERE is a big segment of more than four million eligible voters in Malaysia who have not registered as voters. There are another four million who are registered voters but do not vote.
There could be various reasons for this — perhaps they are too busy or consider it too much of  a hassle to go back to their hometown, and some may not take  the effort because they do not feel that their vote can really change things.

There is also an issue that people do not know which candidate to vote for. So, they sort of vent their frustration  by refusing to vote, or become dysfunctional — they adopt the attitude of almost resenting the idea of voting because they feel it would not make any difference.

I see that the problem for many who have not registered to vote or do not turn up to vote is that they do not realise the worth of their vote. I wish to remind the electorate that each vote decides almost anything under the sun in this country.

In effect, one vote, every four or five years, decides so much — how our schools are going to look like, how our children go to school, how we run our businesses and  how society develops.

The question we need to ask here is  what is my vote worth? We must realise our vote bears huge significance. Our vote decides how we run our economy,  how our matters of religion, culture and environment are handled, how our elderly and poor are taken care of and how our physically handicapped people will be provided for.

This one vote that we have will deal with gender issue, too, including retirement and welfare issues. Many do not realise that each vote is worth millions and millions of ringgit. Everything hangs on it.

Different countries have different needs. There are countries which allow voting at 16 or 18 years old. In some countries, one can vote from the time he or she is 18, but they must be married to be eligible. There are some countries, for example, which allow people to vote when they start working and start paying taxes.

In Uzbekistan, for example, one can only vote when he or she turns 25. We need to determine voting age based on the needs of our country.

Here, in Malaysia, there is a large 43 per cent of Malaysians under the age of 21. Based on this distribution, I see that it is good if we can start enrolling voters earlier.

We must get our politicians to bear in mind that a large portion of our nation is made up of young people and they must be heard and represented.

The problem now is that as our young Malaysians can only register at 21, they may only be able to vote in the following elections when they are 24. Perhaps we can allow our young to register as a voter five years before they turn 21, from the time they are 16 or 17. Then, we can ensure that the politicians will also pay attention to this 43 per cent of our population.

Should we make it compulsory for people to be registered as voters at a certain age? I don’t see how that would solve the problem as many who are registered do not even show up to vote.

There is another alternative. It would be good enough if we effectively ritualise it, make it a custom to register as a voter.  For example, when children move on to secondary school, they become young men and women, they go to the National Registration Department to get their MyKad and their parents can, at the same time, take them to the registration counter to register them as voters.

It becomes a ritual, like getting our MyKad or getting our driving licence when we are a certain age. It becomes a sign of coming of age, of adulthood and responsibility.

When people talk about who to vote, these days there is a notion that we must choose one party or the other. Some suggest a vote for anything but Barisan Nasional (BN), and some say vote for anything but Pakatan Rakyat. Some say a vote for BN is a vote for Umno, and some say a vote for DAP is a vote for Pas or vice-versa.

I find these views not only very myopic, but also illogical. This attitude of giving someone a free ride based not on careful consideration of individual merit, but based solely on party partisanship, is what helps create a corrupt government in the long run. In the short term, we have incompetent lawmakers.

While political parties have a big role to play, I suggest that we vote first for individuals.

This is because when we make this stand, no political party in their right mind would dare to choose incompetent candidates to represent them.

When we choose the individual carefully, rationally and without partisanship, we will compel and ensure that only right calibre people become our leaders. When we have such people in Parliament, we need not worry which party they come from because these people will find a way to work together for the good of the nation.

I see that we can come up with a list of criteria to help us choose who to vote for — characteristics that we need in our members of parliament, for example, intelligence and diligence, good mental and physical health, someone who understands and empathises with all cultures in Malaysia and who would speak for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion.

This list of minimum requirements of who we need and what we need them to do would give us a framework for us to measure which candidate would be the best option. In other words, this is a “contract” you can ask of possible candidates in exchange for your vote; this is not considered as corruption.  Below is the contract I would ask of the candidates from the Lembah Pantai area in exchange for my vote:

SPEAK ON behalf of all Malay- sians regardless of race or religion, at all times and not fight only for their own community. If they fight for their own community, they must balance it up with equal consideration for others;

WITHIN THE first year of their appointment, take a course to understand all the religious and cultural practices of Malaysians;

SHOW CLEAR appreciation and support that the Malay and indigenous customs form our core culture, while the Chinese, Indian and other cultures play strong supporting roles as part and parcel to form the unique Malaysia brand;

ALWAYS PRACTISE empathy; for example  refuse to allow beef or pork to be served or sold in all government-related premises, projects and all party activities;

BE ABLE to speak Malay fluently and English comfortably. If they cannot, they have to take courses to learn and pass a proficiency test within their first six months;

PUBLICLY DECLARE their assets with a third-party register;

PROPOSE TO make the Malay- sian Anti-Corruption Commission  report directly to Parliament within six months;

PROMOTE ECONOMIC policies that provide support to all Malaysians in the bottom 40 per cent strata of society, regardless of race;

PROPOSE THE enactment of non-party hopping laws within six months and continue to fight for it until the law is in place;

INITIATE A PROCESS to work towards one-stream schools, which also adequately provide for all who want to learn their vernacular languages, to be established within the next 15 years. Propose a constitutional change to make this happen;

GO THROUGH a basic management programme for the management of self, people and organisations. (I would recommend reading Peter Drucker’s books on management which include all the essentials);

REFUSE TO work just for politics and your party, but for the people first. As such, you should be prepared to go against your own bosses and fellow party members if they cannot meet the minimum standard requirements. When it comes to what is best for our nation, it is above politics; and,

ALWAYS LOOK for the middle path that can move us forward; even when being pragmatic at times will mean choosing a workable compromise that will be better in the long run for the nation.

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