There are 39,030 voters in the Kajang constituency of which almost half are Malays, 40% Chinese and 10% Indians.It can be argued that the brand that receives the single largest investment by way of promotion is the Nehru-Gandhi family name. Dozens of institutions carry this label, and the media is awash with ads on days that mark significant milestones in the lives of these leaders, in particular those that have departed the world. That this should be so in a democratic country like ours is reason for disquiet, and this has been much commented upon. But what is equally striking is how ineffective these attempts to build the family brand has been in spite of all the investment that backs it. For a family that has ruled India for almost five decades, and done so with the explicit consent of the Indian public (except for a 19 month period), the reputational assets that it has gathered leave much to be desired. This is spite of a concerted attempt to drive home the contribution of the family at every possible occasion.Can an election ever throw up the right candidate? Or to put it more moderately, is an election the mechanism best suited to throw up representatives that will strive to work for their constituents and attempt to better their life? Are there in-built into the electoral process, a set of imperatives that help pre-determine one kind of outcome, irrespective of the quality of the candidates?
The idea of patriotism is not necessarily or inherently “a pernicious psychopathic form of idiocy” that the witty Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw called it once. Human feelings of love and attachment with one’s place of birth and upbringing and selfless service for its betterment, after all, are benign, natural and perhaps, evolutionary too. But patriotic notions can become exactly the idiocy Shaw referred to when individuals or institutions symbolizing patriotism attain stature of unquestionable gods and dogmatic religions.Increasingly, it would seem that what it takes to win an election is not only very different from what it takes to govern, but might well be at odds with the idea of providing governance. The privileging of representativeness in our democracy, with an emphasis on caste and religion, has meant that electable candidates are chosen with a view to who has the biggest electoral draw in terms representing the interests of a community rather than select those that have a view on issues of policy or administration. At one level, democracy does not require its practitioners to come equipped with a track record, and representativeness is perhaps the most vital element in the idea of democracy, but over a period of time, what representativeness has come to mean identity rather than action; the leader resembles his or her constituents, speaks for them and on the occasion that he or she acts on their behalf, it is often through the same narrow lens of community. Under these circumstances, the election abets the process of weeding out those that see their role in more secular terms, and focuses its attention narrowly on those with more sectarian agendas.
The middle class distrust of politicians is in part a sense of frustration with the electoral process. Part of the reason why visible outrage does not automatically translate into higher voting percentages is because the idea is laced with a sense of presumptive futility.Pakatan Rakyat cannot talk about being an alternative government if it fails to weather the current “storm” in Selangor, says the opposition leader.Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said last night that in recent months the state had come under “attack” on several issues which had tested its leadership.the apolitical nature of the struggle is found valuable. The disenchantment with the movement is in part due to its involvement in electoral politics; the paradox being that the impetus for change cannot succeed unless it becomes a variable in the elections but the very act of getting involved with anything to do with elections is seen as an act of contamination. Electoral reforms will help. But too much has to change before reforms by themselves can be effective. As a structure, elections cannot create intent; that must exist in the system. Without intent, the structure merely re-inforces and perhaps amplifies all that is already wrong. Even when elections are not rigged, in some ways they always are. If not by design, then by definition.Anwar was referring to the “Allah” issue, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia premises in which 320 Malay and Iban Bibles were confiscated on January 2, and the water issue, among others.The underlying assumption of elections is that every individual takes a personal decision, on the basis of the inputs received, to choose the person deemed suitable to represent his or her interests. The truth is in the Indian social construct, the individual does not necessarily act as a singular entity and is often inclined to act as part of a larger collective. This is true not only of elections, but of many other walks of life. The election is in some ways almost asking for people to find their own appropriate collective and to cobble together enough numbers so as to increase the bargaining power at their disposal. It is rational to do so, for otherwise every individual feels virtually no ability to influence the outcome.
why must Anwar prepare to take over control of Selangor?Read More
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