Political Dynasties

They say politics is in the blood, the 8th March elections seem to confirm this.

A cursory look at the preliminary list of candidates shows that many family members of current or former politicians are entering the fray. This is not limited to the government side but also the opposition.

This also appears to be a worldwide trend, in America there are political families like Kennedy, Bush and now Hilary is trying her best to bring the Clinton name into the political consciousness of the American people once again.

In Asia, it’s so routine, it’s almost boring.

Gloria Arroyo, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Benazir Bhutto, Indra Ghandi, Suu Kyi, Lee Hsien Loong are all daughters and son of former Presidents or Prime Ministers of their respective countries.

Looking at this trend, do ordinary citizens like you and me have any chance at all in leading the country unless you have the necessary political pedigree? Ability and merit sound a bit alien here. The wise people are right when they say life is never meant to be fair.

With the exception of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, children of former prime ministers are now well represented in the political life of the country, the latest addition being Mukhriz Mahathir. The list gets longer, former MCA president’s son, the Gerakan Advisor’s son, the disgraced Health Minister’s son are all said to be contesting in the coming elections.

The opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, has always made sure that his party DAP is a family business. His son will now be contesting in Penang.The other DAP stalwart Karpal Singh’s son is also said to be contesting. Former Sarawak Governor’s daughter has been announced as a candidate. And, the Sarawak Chief Minister’s son is set to take over from his father’s parliamentary seat. Keadilan Anwar Ibrahim’s wife will be defending her Penang seat, now, daughter Nurul is said to be contesting in one of the seats in the Klang valley.

Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Badawi has given his influential son -in- law the green light to stand for parliament in Negeri Sembilan, and our Chief Minister’s son- in- law will be defending his seat in Membakut. It doesn’t stop here,of course.

Say what you want blood is thicker than water. While the general populace is all excited about the elections, for they feel they have a say in choosing the government, we tend to overlook at the not- so -subtle imposition of family political dynasties into our body politics of this country.

Putting this unhealthy trend aside, when I go out to vote on 8th March, some of the issues I’ll keep in mind are: what have the government done in terms of security, do I feel safe in my own land? What about corruption? Abuse of power? Also have the government been fair to the people in terms of economic opportunities, human rights etc?

As for the much repeated promise of development, it’s getting tedious, it’s the government’s job to develop the nation. We don’t want to believe in all these promises and then the contracts go to the privileged few.

Even if they don’t do a proper job,these people with the right political connections are hardly punished.There is hardly any accountability in this country.

If the government have been doing their job, how is that Sabah is now one of the poorest states in the country? Running water and electricity are unheard of in some parts of the state, so much for the promises of development!

It’s elementary really, we can continue with the status quo and have everything imposed in a “we know what’s good for you, don’t question us “approach like we are a bunch of imbeciles or we can vote for a real change.

The choice is ours.