Vote for Me!

In the next general elections, I am going to vote for myself. That's right, for "myself"! I am not going to vote for any political party or alliance, or the government or the opposition or the New Economic Policy or Vision 2020 or capital development or more democracy or less government or affirmative action or more liberties. I am simply going to vote for myself.


No, I am not standing for elections! Evidently, from all the talk that is going on and the posturing and postulating (some very ugly) that politicians have taken to of late, an election may be announced soon. When it is announced, I plan to vote, like I always do. But this time, I am going to vote for whoever represents me, yes, me -- not any one else or some great ideal out there that benefits no one except those who churned it out it in the first place.


And, I am not going to ask the candidate standing in my constituency what he or she can do for me! I am simply going to sit back and watch. And see if the people who I helped put in place in the last elections are serving - me.


I am going to see:

• Will I get a job on merit and not because I fill a statistic in government quotas?



• Will I move upwards or hit a low glass ceiling and find myself working under those who are there because of political patronage?


• Do I have to work twice as hard to only go half as far simply because I am a minority?



• Will my children be bullied, dismissed and ignored because of the colour of their skin? And can they get scholarships with the ease with which others get them? Will they get jobs that I couldn't?



• Do I have to worship in a shoplot, because civil servants won't give the approval to build a place of worship on a piece of land so that I can worship in peace?



• Will the cops who stop me for a minor offence ask me: "So, apa macam? (how)" In Malaysia, we all know what that means, when a policeman says that!



• Will the cops who take in a brother or a friend or a friend's friend or a friend's friend's friend ... have the daylights beaten out of him and/or he dies in police custody and no one knows anything about it?



• Will the returns to my retirement money be increased or diminished because of the way EPF manages my money?



• Will my taxes work for me? Or, do I still have to drive on tarred roads pock-marked with potholes, and, worst still, which gets flooded with every thunderstorm? Do I have to pay exorbitantly to get quality health care -- privately -- because public health care takes too much of my time?

• Will the municipal council continue to summon me everytime I park by the road because there is no place else to park? And raise my annual assessment even though my garbage is messily taken out? You know, the garbage gets taken out but never without leaving a regular residual litter? And the garbage collectors are not taught to shut the door of the bin chamber every time they take the garbage out? And break-ins are frighteningly an everyday occurence? And traffic jams are a daily exasperation because neighbourhoods are planned without adequate exits and efficient traffic flow?
  
  


• Do I have to pay a premium for safety and stay in a guarded community because I am not confident that me, my family and my belongings will be safe any where else?




• Will my bills, which I duly pay, keeping going up even when others don't pay?




• Do I have to contend with a traffic jam everytime I drive? Or rely on unscrupulous taxi drivers who find every opportunity to fleece me when they can? Or rely on public transport that makes me wait for hours before I get to my destination? Or use transport driven by over-worked, minimally-paid, at-the-bottom-of-the-heap labour who sleeps on the job because they have to work nights or extra time for a couple of Ringgit Malaysia?




• ..... the list can go on ...

I think you know what I am getting at. Yes, this election, I will be gauging micro managers in the civil service and the municipal and city councils to see if they are doing their job. Or just waxing fat on my taxes. I am tired of voting for the "big picture" at the expense of the "small picture" of the ordinary person -- me!

I want to know if the next government will help the little person, me. Since jobs are hard to find, will I get a licence to run a stall? Or, will my stall get moved because I am not supposed to hawk there? But, find, a few months later that a goreng pisang (banana fitters) or hotdog stall has popped up in the same place and up to now no by-law has been invoked to move him or her?

See what I mean?

It is time to serve notice on the other small fellows behind big desks at the municipal and city councils who pretty much do as they please because the public spotlight is focussed elsewhere. And, on the few occasions when it does fall on them, they get away with minimal damage because Big Brother somewhere bails them out or excuses their gross dereliction of duty.

Well, I want them jumping on their toes, at the beck and call of their constituents. But, I know, I am just a small person with an inconsequential vote -- too small to bring about change. But, when thousands of small votes are cast in the same direction, they will count, won't they?

Some people can say that my vote won't count but, I think, it is going to matter.

'Cos, like me, thousands -- perhaps, millions -- of small people are watching and making deductions.

My vote is going to count.