UPDATE: More reasoning for boycott is at Jeff Ooi and Cuit Sikit. This makes more sense on why there is a need to boycott.
It seems official for now.
You have probably heard that DAP, PAS and Parti Keadilan is not going to stand in for the Batu Talam by election. You didn’t?
That is too bad because this now means BN will win this seat uncontested – with a big smile on their face. I am sure that the oppositions have their reasons for boycotting this seat. Although I did not see the actual reasoning in some of the opposition blogs but it was reported in the newspapers that the reason for the boycott was due to discrepancies in the electoral roll for the constituency as well as postal votes that were not transparent and prejudiced. Perhaps the opposition wants to concentrate on the General Election rather than this expected short lived by election.
That seems fair and square…
But the question is this – biasness and unfairness has been in the Malaysian politics one way or another for over 50 years now. So, why cry now and boycott the election? Whether the oppositions are going to contest or not, I have a feeling that the BN will win the Batu Talam seat (ya, call it a Jedi instinct). But by what margin is the win going to be is yet to be seen. The last thing we want is for Pak Lah to go up and say that the “people” want to BN to be in power and because of that, they have won the Batu Talam by election by almost 100% majority. You and I know that is a one big bull-shit.
It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
What about the voters themselves? I am sure that there are more voters who are pissed with BN and are intended to show it by voting for the other guy. Now since the oppositions have boycotted the Batu Talam election, what other choice that these voters have now? In 2004, 2,634 voters voted for the other guy. With the increase of petrol and misleading BN manifesto, what are number of voters expected to vote for the other guy this time around? With the boycott, we will never know. In my opinion, the opposition should make use of the Batu Talam election to gauge the differences of voters voting for BN and use this to be more prepared for general elections. Don’t they know that when the going get tough, the tough gets going?
There are real issues facing the people and a weak opposition who even feels that is alright to boycott the election is the last thing we want. No wonder BN is feeling confidence on this by election. Kadir Jasin has another take on the issue here.
Read also: the problem with Malaysian Opposition
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