The Wall to fair elections

It'll do the system a whole lot of good if the Elections Commission was given a solid kick in its butt to do its job.

The body today stands as a shameless shell, fit only to conduct the barest logistics of running an election. The more important role - as guardian of the principles of the democratic process - it turns its back. It has forsaken its Constitutional role. There is enough evidence in the three by-elections - Batu Talam, Machap and now, Ijok - to show yet again that the EC is nothing but a carapace to propagate the misdeeds of the ruling BN party; it is a token billboard to declare that there is such a thing as fair elections on this land. We may suffer from the Mudah Lupa Syndrome, but three abusive jolts in a row? This we must never forget nor let go.

Bribes are bribes, no matter how you approach it. Just because it's a by-election and a hundred streetlamps emerge in a couple of days when none was erected in the decades prior - that's a bribe. When RM36 million worth of development suddenly gets poured into a constituency because there's a by-election - that's a bribe. When you get RM200 on the very morning of the by-election, that's a frigging bribe.

Any Commission proudly fulfilling its duty would have put a stop to this nonsense. But pride, here in sycophantsville Malaysia?

Forget about the rants in the warongs and coffeeshops, forget about the rants in cyberspace. It doesn't give a hoot about what you think. It only listens and acts according to who's up there, never down. Which is a bad, bad mistake in the longer term. We've reached the apex of the longer term; it is now.

I believe a crippling protest is what's needed to shove these idiots to kingdom come. Reform has to happen institution by institution and the EC is ripe for a solid structural makeover given the topicality and relevance to our everyday lives. 100,00 strong, why 200,000 strong, assembling peacably and without arms at its den in Putrajaya.

Peacably and without arms but with a clear message - have balls; you're serving the People, not be a stooge.