The OPTIMIST would see the 'carrot-dangling' act by the Malaysian ruling coalition offering cash handouts as a good albeit temporary measure to alleviate the burden of low-income earners in parallel to increasing cost of living. The NAIVETE (or the misinformed) would jump for joy and re-elect the National Front to where they have been the last 56 years. The SKEPTIC would shrug this as another conniving but desperate attempt to woo the nation's largest voting population - in which the opposition is struggling to reach out at the moment in such a short campaigning period imposed on them. The YOUNG VOTING GENERATION would realize that such a one-off act is part of Najib's subtle 'You Help Me, I Help You' modus operandi desperately trying to safeguard their stronghold against what is believed to be the tightest electoral race in the history of Malaysia, with taxpayers' money.

The ECONOMETRICIAN (applies mathematics and statistics to economics) would compute the gross figure from the number of households benefiting from this: Population as of 2011 28.9 million > Assume 5 members to a family 5.8 million households > Households earning below RM3,000 assumed to be around 80% > RM2.3 billion. The ECONOMIST would be bewildered by underlying consequences to the high government debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio (currently at 53% of the GDP) our nation is silently suffering.

How about the REALIST, if you care to ask? Well, they are more interested in 'forward thinking' - on what is bound to happen post-GE13 if the nation returns the ruling mandate to the current ruling coalition, i.e. UMNO Barisan Nasional, in terms of the its resources. And vice versa.

So, what is my take on the GE13?

I am burnt out - with constantly feeling helpless being abroad and reading on the constant politickings on the alternative media, when the mainstream media is lopsided (local newspapers are giving Barisan Nasional 87% of positive coverage as compared to 8% for the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR); local television news 82% and 13% respectively).

I am burnt out with the endless list of corruption and scandals scarring the national headlines (see Appendix below) followed by hundreds of cover-ups and zero follow-ups, the sly tactics during nomination day ('Rocket landing on Moon'), the sabotages during campaigning period, the smearing of opposition in every way possible (as far as sex tapes!) and of course, the very thing NGO Bersih has been campaigning about (while being fired tear gas and water cannons in return for) wanting - CLEAN AND FAIR ELECTION.

Are you people not drained? These are simply dirty and old tricks played over and over like a broken vinyl record on a turntable - it is there, it is obvious, and definitely infuriating to the ears!

A viable ALTERNATIVE upholding policies that concerns long term feedbacks is what that the country needs now to thrive through these bad times.

While I agree that the opposition is imperfect in terms of the coherence of the alliance shared by the once fragmented tri-partisan, each from very different grassroots. There is also a shadowing fear of being imposed the 'hudud law' (Islamic State), of amending Article 153 to revoke the special rights given to Malays and bumiputera and the backlash from clashing ideologies of the PR coalition. However, given the positive track record of their joint governance of the four key states of the country (Penang, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah) - it is quite obvious that their stability is unquestionable.

It is time to give this country a make over, a fresh start. Why not give Pakatan Rakyat five years to prove their credibility in transparent and clean governance on the federal level and see if it can lead Malaysia out of complacency and mediocrity? It is not like not electing the BN would mean eliminating them altogether, because there are a lot of good candidates who are genuine and very capable. What I mean was why not just let them take its long lunch break and sit in the background as bench warmers to have a little self-introspection and hopefully we get to see an internal revamp.

I mean let's be honest, if Pakatan Rakyat were to win the majority in the GE13 - won't we see a lot of people who are running on Barisan Nasional tickets discreetly (but surely) packing their bags over to the other side?

Yours truly,

The concerned Generation Y Malaysian.

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p/s: A little background on GDP: 1. GDP is not a true indicator to the health of the nation's economy as substantial amount goes into savings of the citizens etc. I think the government debt should best be mirrored onto its capacity to tax its citizens and/or earnings from export.

2. The term 'debt' in this context is split to two: Domestic (Internal) and External debt. While the government boast on how it doesn't need to borrow from IMF or other countries - little do public know the 'hidden' debt are from government using citizens' savings to spend - which now stands at RM467.4 billion as of Sept 2012, a whooping 97% of the total government debt. It may be a long way down the road to disaster (I think), but this is surely looking to be the future carbon copy of Greece, Cyprus and Iceland if not sustained.

Appendix - List of latest corruption compiled by Guan Eng, Gen-Sec of DAP and Penang PM.

1.Bank Negara losses - RM30 bil "Several exposes have highlighted how the BN government not only condones private scandal but also promotes bad public behaviour. Beginning with the Bank Negara foreign exchange scandal, which the Bank Negara admitted incurred losses of RM 10.1 billion in 1992 and RM5.7 billion in 1993. What is shocking was not the claim by senior Bank Negara officials that the losses were actually double the RM15.8 billion admitted by BN but that the person behind the colossal losses escaped unpunished and later even promoted as Minister. Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop was forced to resign from Bank Negara on July 10, 1994 for his role in the RM15.8 billion losses and is now the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department."

2.Shahrizat's Cowgate - RM250 mil
3.Taib Mahmud's son - RM700 mil
4.Musa's Aman-gate - RM40mil
5.Ali Rustam's Wedding-gate - 130k guests
6.Felda PINK FORM for 1 MILLION SHARES
7.Jamaluddin Jarjis & children - Malindo Airways

References:

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2013/04/25/malaysian-media-favors-ruling-party-study-finds/

http://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/fitchwire/fitchwirearticle/Guarantees,-External-Finances?pr_id=769889&cm_sp=homepage-_-FitchWire-_-%20Guarantees,%20External%20Finances%20Add%20to%20Malaysia%20Concerns

http://pakatanrakyat.my/files/ENG-Manifesto-BOOK.pdf


http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/221953

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/131646

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=43011:bns-never-ending-list-of-corruption-scandals-no-punishment-just-cover-ups&Itemid=2

http://www.ahamedkameel.com/archives/509

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2013/04/2013417101152169523.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmMm9DmHqpM

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=43011:bns-never-ending-list-of-corruption-scandals-no-punishment-just-cover-ups&Itemid=2

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/malaysia-needs-to-get-off-the-road-to-mediocrity.html

Written by Didi Ooi(my ex-student in Sabah)