Months ago, the political parties should have named the candidates who will contest in GE15, this will also give time for the candidates to make themselves known to the electorate, and more importantly time for the people to investigate and evaluate the said candidate...
Parliament has been dissolved, election dates fixed > we still do not know the names of the party candidates who will be contesting in a particular constituency. DAP allegedly has still not yet confirmed whether incumbent Charles Santiago will be running in the same seat or a different seat. Likewise, the case for all political parties..
If the candidates know in advance, the said candidates can start working on the ground to enable the people to better know them. It gives also the people time to investigate and evaluate individual candidates - simply voting a person becomes he is this party or that party candidate is FOOLISH.
The short 14-day campaign period makes it near impossible for any candidate to even shake hands with all the constituents..
So, end of the day, people end up voting the PARTY and not the MP candidate... Worse, in most party, it is the national leadership that decides on the candidate > not the members of the party or members in the State or members in the particular constituency...PARTY HOPPING, well at the end of the day, the FAULT lies with the party leaders who made a wrong choice...does it not?
Should not Party Presidents immediately RESIGN when one of their chosen MPs resign? If the party members chose the candidate, then the fault is with membership..
Change of system in political parties >> Maybe a year before upcoming elections, there should be a POLL(or vote or REFERENDUM) amongst party members or even people of the constituency who are interested, as to their choice of the person they want to be their future MP candidate > something like this happens in the US Presidency > first party elections to chose the party candidate, then the election of the candidates from different parties and other independents. Such a process will be more DEMOCRATIC within any political party - the members(or supporters) will have a say. As it is, most political parties are more 'feudalistic' than democratic?
If an incumbent will not be contesting in the upcoming GE, if his/her replacement was known earlier - it would have allowed the incumbent time to introduce his/her replacement to the people of the constituents..
All I know that for Temerloh, PH candidate will be from Amanah - that is not enough, as we do not know who the person is...
The DELAY in informing the people the name of the candidate by the political parties, or other independents who want to contest, is a VIOLATION OF THE PEOPLES' RIGHTS.
This, and a short campaign period, results in people basically choosing based on Party or ETHNICITY or RELIGION - End result, our Parliament gets low quality MPs >> how many MPs stood out after GE14...how many MPs actively lobbied issues...how many MPs really were reported in MEDIA for their stance on issues, for highlighting NEW matters, for suggesting needed REFORMS... sadly so few...
PARTY WHIP - they 'order' and tell their MPs how to VOTE in any particular issue. Party policy seems to be that you can only express party position and not any other different position...
For a more democratic Malaysia, such systems that STIFLE the individuality of MPs need to go...
END RESULT - the people know the "WORTHLESSNESS' of MPs when it comes to advancing issues, positions, voting in Parliament - so, in Malaysia, many simply do not even bother to LOBBY MPs of issues of importance in Malaysia > WHY? Because many MPs are simply perceived as 'puppets' of the Party President/leaders - with NO GUTS to advance or promote a different opinion - well, some Parties also will kick out MPs and Members with a different position/view from their President/leadership - how undemocratic.
So, at the end of the day, MPs are mere 'welfare officers' - place to get monies/allocations, etc...
I wonder how many MPs in Parliament research and look thoroughly the issues to be debated in Parliament - What is the use, when you are BARRED from expressing a view different from the party leader's view, when you have no choice but to vote as directed by the Party...
BETTER still, Parliament does not keep records of how each individual MP actually voted --- that means, if confronted by people, a MP could simply lie and says he/she abstained or voted in opposition. No one would know, as there is NO OFFICIAL RECORD OF HOW AN INDIVIDUAL MP VOTED. I wonder whether those that choose to be absent really maybe those who did not want to as their party leaders wanted...
REFORMS need to start with Political Parties > they must be more democratic, and return the power of even choosing MP candidates back to their members, or better still to the people(supporters, etc..) How many of the members of PH want Anwar Ibrahim to become the Tambun MP after GE15? Do the people of TAMBUN have another choice for a candidate..
REFORMS - People need to change, and vote the individuals who are standing as candidate. The party they come from should just be a consideration. {Remember, PKR's leadership choice for MPs were 'bad' when 12 party-hopped...???)
REFORMS - remove party whip, save for maybe Financial Bills, and allow MPs freedom of expression and opinion even in Parliamentary debates..
REFORM - Every vote in Parliament must be transparent > People need to know how their MP really VOTED in the different issues. If they voted different from the views of the majority in his constituency, then he/she must explain to the people...
FEUDALISM went out of the window, to be replaced by DEMOCRACY
But, when we look at the reality, we may be back to a kind of FEUDALISM, now where the political party leaders have become the 'new King', and all members are simply expected to be blindly LOYAL
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS - Wonder how may political parties/politicians will guarantee this, so that we can once again choose our Local Councillors? Local government is VERY IMPORTANT as it controls fundamental issues of our towns - it decides on Business approvals/licences, Tax payable to local government/authority, bus stops/bus services, >>> it is really the MOST important of governments as far as day to day living is concerned.
In Mentakab, it has allowed so many temporary stalls for Deepavali - but the problem is location, as each one takes away usage of 3-5 parking lots, in a town where there is already insufficient parking lots. Local government is responsible...?? But the current local councillors do not bother to listen to the people as they are all appointed by the State Government.
Kampung/Taman Elections > Now, they are all appointed by the State. So approvals of the people are given by this political appointees, without even the people knowing. When LYNAS was being built, the people should have been consulted - maybe they were and they approved - nay, maybe their politically appointed heads of kampung/taman and Local Council approved >>> Maybe, if we checked, this will what will be disclosed.
QUESTION TO MALAYSIANS - What kind of democracy do you want? What kind of democratic practices do you want? CLAIM IT THEN - It will not happen if you simply choose to accept things as they are..
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