Looks like Malaysia Votes will be one website just added to my rss feeds.
It will be good to read this piece with another piece Delivering the bread and butter. The titles frame the discussion 🙂
How hard will the candidates and political parties have to work to address these concerns? What do they need to do to assure the voters?
Very hard. This is perhaps a reason why the campaigning period has been extended almost twice as long [compared to nine days in 1999 and eight days in 2004]. The incumbents need to assure their constituents that they have done a good job and will continue to do so. Newbies need to show they have solutions and concrete strategies to solve the problems. Depending on the constituency, the candidates need to cater the right message to the right people. The Chinese are practical voters – they want to know how the candidates will deliver in terms of Chinese schools, language and the economy. The Indians will want to know from the MIC what the party can do to represent their best interests, especially in response to the issues raised by Hindraf.
And a longer term trend is how politicians need to cater to the needs of more sophisticated voters. The electorate is becoming increasingly demanding of their representatives. With calls for public accountability, transparency and good governance, politicians must respond accordingly. In the future, we will be looking at elections that do not merely descend into arguments on race and religion.
Apparently the politician said he was misquoted by the papers on this matter. But still where do we go from here?
Malaysian churches campaign for religious freedom in elections
The title is eye-grabbing no doubt but it gives the impression that "religious freedom" is the only agenda on the minds of Christians in this elections, which is not so … at least for many of us it’s more than that. The Vote Wisely campaign includes a wider set of concerns. In the "what to consider segment" there are other important stuff mentioned.
- Future for you and the generations to come
- Politicians and political parties’ willingness to
uphold the following:
- Citizens’ rights on freedom of religion,
conscience and speech
- Economic agenda and development
- Protection of environment
- Welfare of the poor, sick and disabled
- Integrity, honesty and efficiency
- Justice and fair play
Do we have free and fair elections?
BN vs Opposition – Their best arguments for themselves and against the other
Kind of stumbled on the above 2 links.