seems to be our favourite 'post mortem' after an election. This is too simplistic to describe the ills of our so-called democratic elections which have been well written by several notable politicians, political scientists and experienced observers. But no criticism nor complaint seems to stick with our biased system where almost all institutions are under the control of the Executive. And the voters have yet to vote in sufficient numbers (to counter any unfair supervision and bribery) to show their maturity in the election process.
Raja Petra dreams about UK's elections in 'An exercise in maturity':
'Whatever it may be, the UK elections demonstrates the maturity of the voters. It is not about race or religion or special rights. It is about the policies of the parties contesting and about which party can be the better government.'
"I know. I am being idealistic in thinking that this can happen in Malaysia, at least not in our generation. But this is what my perjuangan is all about, to see the emergence of two equally strong parties that we can rotate every two or three elections, and a ‘third force’ that can play kingmaker and balance between the two so that they know they can't rule on their own without help from the third force.
It is a difficult dream to realise, I know. But it is not an impossible dream. And it is a dream that will take time to realise. But what is mankind in the absence of dreams? A person without a dream is a person who has stopped living. So I continue to dream. And my dream is that one day Malaysia will have a large percentage of matured voters who will choose their government based on tangible reasons and not based on emotions and sentiments and pining for a return to the glory of days gone by."
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