Much has been written (and written well) in Malaysiakini in view of the coming elections. In particular, I am impressed with Report card: Excellence, glory, distinction and Insulting Malaysians’ intelligence .

As a tax payer and a loyal Malaysian citizen I would like to add further:

Year after year, the Auditor-General’s report show the massive and blatant corruption that is taking place at every level of civil service but has anyone been brought to the book so far? What about the mismanagement and ‘bailing out’ of GLCs such as Proton and MAS just to name a few?

And the police reports lodged against alleged corruption by the ‘big guns’ – have any of them been investigated? These are but a small fraction of financial scandals. And they all involve the poor taxpayers’ money.

Perhaps an economist can work out the total amount siphoned off through corruption – who knows it might be equivalent to the billions supposedly spent on subsidies for fuel and more.

The Lingam tape scandal reveals not only the rotten state of affairs of our whole judicial system but that the rot that has pervaded all the agencies that are supposed to protect our rights. If the BN wins with a strong mandate again, it is anyone’s guess what the outcome of the findings of the royal commission would be (bearing in mind what happened to the IPCMC).

The state of transparency and accountability of governance in all spheres is appalling and in shambles (including the episode of a woman who was blown to pieces using ‘government machinery’).

The only hope to bring about any change lies in our vote. We can only work towards what seems possible for the time being.

The next change in state governments (besides Kelantan) could well be Penang. It would be a good opportunity for the people of Penang to give the opposition the chance to rule and test out this scenario: is the opposition really capable of governance and able to fulfill their promises (such as elimination of the NEP, decrease oil prices, etc. etc?)

Is it possible to govern from a multi-racial-ethnic-religious platform? We may be pleasantly surprised that it actually works and that may well be the end of the road for ethnic-based political parties and politicians who flash racial and religious cards for political mileage.

So, Penangites, go for it! Be the example for the rest of the nation. After all, the five years (or is it four?) will pass quickly and we will have the power to decide again (although four or five years would be too short a time to undo the rot of 40 plus years, let alone get rid of it).

For the rest of the citizens, it is possible to deny the BN their two-thirds majority. Don’t fall for their scare tactics. With the rot that we are facing now, what have we got to lose? This might well be the first step towards a brighter future.

When that really happens, hopefully, it will give BN a strong message to start really working toward stopping the rot and begin the courageous process of ‘chopping’ from the top. Meanwhile, the challenge to the opposition parties will be to groom their teams to prepare to take over after the next election.

Let’s not sit around and complain. We have the power to decide our future with our votes. Use it for the benefit of generations to come.