LETTER | Writing letters to editors is something I have never done but I feel compelled to write one today.

I am a Selangorian and I vote in an urban constituency in Selangor.

I am a housewife with two teenage sons and double up as an English home tutor.

I read the leading news portals daily and follow political news and issues on both sides.

I discuss issues with my close circle of friends and family and almost all of us have decided that we will sit out this state election.

Let me tell you why.

In the last general election, many of us voted for a Pakatan Harapan government but we ended with a hybrid.

We understand that sometimes we cannot get exactly what we want and must compromise. In politics, compromise is inevitable.

However, when you order wagyu beef steak in a restaurant and instead get a plate of french fries and some coleslaw with a sliver of teriyaki beef, that is far from what was advertised and what we are paying for.

We have been shortchanged but will hold our noses to the putrid stench from Umno.

Voted for reforms

We voted for reforms. There have been three sittings of Parliament since the unity government started ruling.

We have not seen one reform passed in Parliament.

Why?

If there is a will, there is a way. Maybe there is no will but just plenty of feet dragging. Still, we will be patient and see if someone we voted for gets inspired to practice what he has been preaching.

Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) is one of the laws that we supported Harapan to abolish.

That could have been done in the first sitting of Parliament.

Instead, Sosma is now used by the same communications and digital minister who, when he was in the opposition, used to condemn it.

However, now that he is the government, he is using it to put fear into us by threatening that we might have the police waiting outside our doors.

What is this?

What is the difference from before?

Threaten

I do not remember any prime minister or communications and digital minister threatening that the police will wait outside our doors. Still, coming from a PKR minister, this is shocking and revealing.

Yet, we will stand quietly and hope that he just had a bad error of judgement.

The DAP, despite having the most seats in the unity government, has become a voiceless and toothless party.

Compromise is one thing but complicity is quite another.

By remaining silent, it has become the rubber stamp for the unity government and is morphing into another MCA.

So why should I feed this barkless puppy with my vote?

At least, MCA could work and did work with businesses so that people like my husband and brothers could bank on profitable incomes and dutifully pay our taxes.

And this brings me to my final point.

The economy is getting worse. The PMX and his economy minister keep telling us that there is no money and that they can't keep their promise to reduce the price of fuel.

We try to understand.

No solution

But we also ask, "Why it is that when the entire country was under lockdown during the MCO, the PN PM and cabinet could implement so many programmes and subsidise and spend billions to help us tide over?"

As I have said above, there is a way if there is a will. There seems to be no will or solutions but plenty of finger pointing and excuses.

However, my friends and family all agree there is no real plan or strategy by the unity government to do something about the economy and that really worries us.

On this, we cannot just remain quiet.

We can only conclude that we are being taken for granted.

We have been lumped into the Chinese urban vote bank category that Harapan can depend on, who they think will vote for Harapan blindly. Therefore, we have had enough.

Let me say this loud and clear to PMX and Anthony Loke.

We are not sheep. We are your educated urban voters who have given you two chances; once in 2018 and once again in 2022. And you failed us both times.

We gave you the country in 2022, but in 2023, we will give the states to the opposition and its so-called "green tsunami".

We want our message to be heard loud and clear.

I may be a drop in the ripple across your ocean, but when enough drops dry up, you will not have a big strong wave to sweep you to power.

And you need to learn your lesson the hard way.

Do not take me for granted.

This educated urban Chinese housewife is not going to waste her time or money to be cheated a third time.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.