Will our rights to vote lead to the wisest decision?

What does general election reminds you of? What does it make you think of when you hear about politics?

As we are all well aware of, the result of our 12^th general election back in March 2008, took the whole nation by surprise as major opposition parties joined hands triumphed Barisan Nasional (BN) with 82 seats in the parliament. It was considered as a fall over for BN considering they have been in power for all these years.

 

Statistic of the past general elections

From then on, everyone has been anticipating for the next general elections and the outcome is still in prediction whether or not BN will remain in power.

On the other hand, the question on when will the next general election be held, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s department, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz expressed his point of view at the Parliament House on the 11^th of October 2010,

“For the moment, we have not fully recovered, from the results from the 2008 elections and I personally think that we need all the time before we can recover and I think the next election will not come before 2013”.

In truth, we as young voters has learned a lot from the past elections and the 2008 election has opened our eyes and let us know that we can – after all – use our rights wisely and exercise them on the right place.

Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan, the chairperson for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (BERSIH 2.0) expressed that after what had took place in March 2008, the vote lies on the hands of the citizens and that we can decide what is best for ourselves.

When asked of her opinion in the next general election, she replied, “I think the next election will tell us a lot, it will tell us that people have had enough, I personally have had enough of the dirty politics, but it will tell us whether people in general have had enough, whether the people really wanted a change, and whether people really wanted to make their vote count”

She added, “The next general election also gives an opportunity to see if multi-party democracy exists. The whole point of multi-party democracy is that the power returns to where it belongs – which is to the people.”

BERSIH 2.0 was formed in July 2005, as the Joint Action Committee for Electoral Reform to push for a thorough reform of the electoral process in Malaysia with their motto, “Only when elections are clean and fair, can citizens be real masters of their own destiny and expect holders of public office to act accountably and effectively”.

BERSIH 2.0 is a citizen’s movement for an election which is free and fair of all frauds and cheats. Dato’ Ambiga added, “what you’re going to see is that because of March 2008, there will be more attempts to actually undermine the electoral process and those who want to stay in power which is why we need to be very vigilant and which is why we need a movement by BERSIH 2.0”.

In fact, in own personal view, as a student and also a future voter, it is now a fact that electoral form is necessary to prevent a fraudulent process to happen.

Still being bugged over what may happen in the near future?

“I suppose the answer is when you exercise your right to vote, please vote for politicians who have the maturity, who appreciate the principle of democracy, and who have the right values” said Dato’ Ambiga.

Selangor – The ‘Clash’ of who dominates what in water supply?

Water is the main vitality to all known forms in life and it holds an important role in the world economy as it acts as a solvent to all kinds of chemical substances and facilities industrial cooling and transportation.

However, what would have happen had this renewable source runs out one day?

Water scarcity is taken into consideration by the state of Selangor and the government is working through this issue to prepare for the worst.

However, there were complications in making decisions to build a dam, or to launch suggestions like technique of rainwater harvesting owing to the fact that there is disintegration in the communication among the authorities.

There are four private companies in Selangor, three of which handles the treatment aspects of water such as Abbas, Splash, Puncak Niaga, and Syabas which operates the distribution aspect.

The Research Officer to Selangor Chief Minister, Tricia Yeoh explained that the whole structure of organisation to water resources is fragmented in the sense that there were too many ties in between the state government and federal government due to the corporatizing, privatizing, and concessions given away to private companies.

 

The privatisation of the water supply is supposed to generate a better result in efficiency which is why the government focus more on policy instead of implementation, but Syabas proved it wrong. It turned out that Syabas had liabilities and insufficient capital expenditure for repairing the water pipelines and assets which resulted in another concession given to other companies.

The federal government decided that all this must be put to a stop, hence came up with a decision to unveil an act called ‘The Water Services Industry Act’ which came into force on 1 January 2008.

The Act is formed to protect the public to resolve the fragmented structure of the water services industry.

Yeoh added, “They would be able to exercise control over the concession companies, although right now they are claiming that ‘they cannot, because they are tied down to the concession agreements’. To our mind, the Act is anywhere more powerful than the concession agreements, and was drafted with the very purpose of ensuring these unfair concession agreements could be ended in a legal, legitimate manner”.

 

Currently, the treatment and distribution of water is ‘shared’ by both the federal and state government after the Federal Constitution was amended such that “water services” was transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List.

“But, as we all know, in this country, when you say ‘share’ it is obvious the dominance comes from the federal government”, said Yeoh.

Whether or not, the power comes from the state government or federal, it should not be a matter of who gets to dominate what instead, they should abide by the quote constantly used by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for 1Malaysia – People first. Performance now.

For everything they do, make it a point for the public, no?

PM calls for a new plan – The Key is Moderation

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak called for a plan to a new and moving vision “to realize its founding objectives” for the Asia-Europe Summit meeting (ASEM).  He said as a group, it is vital for the members to accept that the balance of the world’s economy has shifted to advancing emerging markets.

“Concurrent with this trend, we need to accelerate the reform of multilateral institutions to reflect the new reality”.

PM Najib and many other leaders have attended the Eighth ASEM at Brussels on the 4^th of October to discuss fundamental issues relating to the theme, ‘Quality of Life’.

He added that a “global movement of the moderates” of all faiths and efforts together as one was required to make it as a success.  He claimed there was also a need to balance the rate of radical activities.

He also called for the global emphasis on inclination to moderate thinking. Najib also reiterated his statement at ASEM on Tuesday believing that the vocal and openness are the essentials for moderates in expressing their views.

Najib attended ASEM for the first time as Prime Minister, recognized the European Union’s (EU) “courageous and unprecedented steps” to guard any harm from occurring on eurozone with the severe economic downturn and risks surfacing from the monarch debt problems during the financial crisis which happened recently.

He also spoke on the New Economic Model (NEM) which is a testimony of Malaysia’s new way of thinking and philosophy in driving this country to a developed and high-income nation by 2020 that is ‘inclusive’ and ‘sustainable’.

Najib said continuous macro-economic observation, composed domestic macro-economic policies as well as regular regional and intra-regional consultation would help to detect undermine events and coordinate policy responses to resolve them.

“Improved cooperation and consultation between the governments of Europe and Asia is one way to ensure we are better prepared for the future.”

Back in Malaysia, Najib said it was a good forum for informal consultation and has given Malaysia a huge opportunity to send a very strong message that Asean and Asian were important to Europe and vice versa.

He arrived at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, from Brussels accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Subang Jaya – Efficiency of the Public Transportation.

As we are all familiar about, winding down after long working hours, getting stuck in traffic jams are the norms especially during rush hours and it happens regularly – almost more like a daily routine – at Subang Jaya residential areas.

Many residents have filed complaints and not many actions are taken to solve the congestion issue. The main reason is due to the fact that public transportation is not rooted in Subang Jaya area for residences’ convenience.

Muhammad Zulkarnain Hamzah, the co-founder of ‘The Association For the Improvement of Mass Transit (TRANSIT) verbalized that many people holds a wrong perception to what public transportation is about, when the real perception of it is a tool to relieve congestion and traffic jams during peak hours and especially, “in urban setting where population density is an issue because congestion cause economic grid lock to the country”.

It is unavoidable for traffic jams to happen especially during rush hours from 5pm to 7pm because that time is the peak time when everyone returns from offices and universities, however, it is possible to reduce the amount of cars on the road and to relieve congestion. By fixing public transportation in residential areas to collect passengers would ultimately solve the issue.

Rajiv a/l Rishyakaran, the councilor of Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) expressed in his opinion is the lack of planning from the authorities which causes the congestion and massive traffic jams during peak hours and there is no ‘transport master plan’ in all Malaysian cities.

When a meeting was assembled and Rapid bus was asked to improve their bus services for the benefits of the residents, unfortunately they said it all depends on the profits and if there will be enough passengers to fit the requirements in order for them to go to certain routes which are suggested.

According to Hannah Yeoh, the state assembly-person for Subang Jaya said, “it is like a chicken and egg situation. The bus services will never be regular enough to convince people to come out and take the bus, and the bus company would say ‘look, because we don’t have enough customers, I cannot run my bus service at this particular route’”.

Yeoh also stated that it is essential for the federal government to take an initiative to solve the issue.

“As a government, you must push through and if you owe the particular bus company you must make sure that even if it does not collect any profit, you would still have to run the profit because that is the duty of the government to make sure the public transportation is there.”

The jams are also caused by students’ parents who picked them up before and after school which is about the same time as peak hours. This is due to the lack of public transportation which disable them to commute from one place to another without the convenience of private vehicles.

According to Yeoh, there have been ideas about building a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system throughout Subang Jaya area, linking from Subang Parade, SS 15, SS 17, SS 14, SS 18, Kesas, The Summit, Persiaran Kewajipan and lastly to Putra Heights.

It is a great start by implementing the ideas to develop a better future for the Subang Jaya residences. Public transportation will help to reduce the traffic jams considering there will be lesser cars on the road in the near future.

Rejuvenation

An ordinary Monash’s Art Student diving in to the world of reality.