How to vote this round?

China Press, 7 June 2016

Facing the hudud law issue, non-Muslim voters in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar are having headache this time.

Why?

Reason No 1 : You vote for Barisan Nasional and the coalition wins, then the Umno leaders who have been stressing that the private member’s bill tabled by Hadi is not hudud may say: “You see, all these are sensationalised by politicians. Even the non-Muslims in the two by-elections do not see this as an issue. More so, MCA and Gerakan leaders still assist the Umno candidates to campaign!”

Reason No 2: You vote for Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and Pakatan Harapan wins. The Pakatan Harapan leaders would say we continue talking about the RM2.6 billion political fund scandal and skipped hudud law. Of course, they would not tell you that Amanah MP Khalid Samad, formerly from PAS, has stated that they do not oppose Hadi’s private member’s bill.

In the past DAP MPs say hudud is a false statement. They continued to champion PAS to Chinese community by telling the latter that “the moon represents my heart”. Now DAP and “moon” seem to be unable to severe ties totally. By supporting Amanah, MPs from Amanah also say they do not oppose the private member’s bill. When the private member’s bill is to be decided by vote, would they support or oppose? Do they want to “let it pass first” then only talk about hudud/private member’s bill?

Politicians always can justify

Reason No 3: You do not vote for PAS but PAS has won. PAS leaders would loudly proclaim that this proves Hadi’s private member’s bill received people’s support. If PAS “accidentally” receive some non-Muslim votes, they would even say: “You see, non-Muslims do not oppose private member’s bill. All these are sensationalised by politicians.”

No matter how do you decide, who to vote for, different political parties would have different interpretations. To the 30.68% of Chinese voters and1.91% of Indian voters in Sungai Besar, as well as the 25.99% of Chinese voters and 7.93% of Indian voters in Kuala Kangsar, this is too difficult.

A PKR city councillor sums up well. A politician with make-up is called an angel. A politician without make-up is an evil. The cunning evil would always lead you to believe that he is the God-sent hero to save the people.