Vote For Malaysia's Sake!

I rarely read opinions endorsed by The Star, but this one was too good to pass up. Read it for yourself.

For Malaysia’s sake, go and vote! by Huzir Sulaiman

Excerpts:

We should aim for an 80% voter turnout at this election. After 50 years of independence, it’s time we got more involved.

(We might not be able to do better than 80%, realistically, because there will always be some voters in hospital with dengue fever; and of course, going by the alarming crime rates, a large number of voters will be the victims of snatch theft on the way to the polling station, thereby losing their identity cards and being unable to prove that they are actual living, registered voters, as opposed to, say, one of 200 dead voters living in the same two-room house.)

Anecdotal evidence suggests that voter turnout is low among the educated and English-speaking. Readers of The Star, basically. I sincerely hope someone will come up with figures to show that I’m wrong, but that’s the way it looks.

Excuses for not voting abound.

The idea that by not voting one can somehow register “a protest against the whole political system” is utterly nonsensical. You wouldn’t be registering a protest.

You wouldn’t be registering anything. You’d be erasing yourself.

You’d be disemboweling your own citizenship.

You’d be tearing out the intestines of your patriotism and throwing them onto the barbecue of your apathy.

In short: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

I've always liked opinions with strong words. :)