Erna Mahyuni
The Malay Mail Online
February 19, 2014

FEB 19 — Wouldn’t want to be a PKR supporter right now. The “Who gets to be Selangor MB” game is getting pretty old and rather symptomatic of the prevailing malady permeating our country — having the wrong priorities.

Umno’s culture of selfishness and infighting with poison pen letters and hidden knives in the dark is well-documented. But to see the same culture of factionalism and infighting in PKR makes you wonder if the party is just a rebadged Umno. Same crap, same people (stop recruiting ex-Umno people already, Anwar) but just a different party name.

I can’t comment on the merits of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim versus Azmin Ali versus Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim because I frankly do not give a rat’s behind.

What is certain is that it is entirely possible for Pakatan Rakyat to lose Selangor, without even waiting for the next general election.

Of all the things this country needs right now, one important thing is hope. But I am surrounded by friends and family who have become entirely disillusioned by our country’s politics. Many have resolved to abandon Malaysia saying things are only getting worse, instead of better.

But the problem is that bread and butter issues are far less interesting than scandals and backstabbing. And we are such an easily distracted populace. Add race and religion, stoke the fires of bigotry and ignorance and we are all happily distracted from the things that truly matter.

The dialogue needs to change. The focus needs to be shifted. We have to, for one, stop getting so offended. What someone thinks about your race or religion is merely an opinion, not fact. God is certainly too busy to be offended and far too powerful to need us to defend his ‘honour’.

If the politicians forget what really matters then it is up to us to remind them. We need to finally understand that we cannot leave the fate of our nation up solely to our elected representatives.

We do not “owe” politicians. They never deserve our kowtowing or “gratitude”. They should be doing their jobs and we have the right to call them out when they don’t.

If we consider the politicians the best reflections of ourselves, then we must be an impoverished population indeed. We deserve better. The country deserves better. And that should be what we care about and not some political post.