Malaysians have been guessing
about polling dates for the past two years. Now we have entered into 2013, and the
latest date we go to polls is on June 27. It based on the automatic termination
of Parliament on April 27, and after that polls must be held within 60 days.
But it is believed that the most
likely date would be on the last Saturday of the first-term school holidays,
that is, on March 30. This year the Ministry of Education has unusually pushed
forth the holidays to two weeks later at last minute, breaking the norm of
holding holidays on the second week of March. With such an act, and to the fact
that the government needed school teachers to work as polling agents, so the
chance for March 30 is high.
If this date was planned by
Barisan Nasional (BN) months earlier, I doubted whether the Prime Minister
Najib had indeed overlooked two important facts. Firstly, the Qing Ming
Festival falls on April 4. Usually the Chinese will visit the graveyards on the
Saturday and Sunday prior to the actual date, that is, on March 30 and 31.
The government may say they have
done a favor for the Chinese. They can hit two birds with one stone. In other
words, they can go back to their hometown to pay their respect to the deceased,
and at the same time they can cast their votes. But I begged to differ. As a
matter of facts, many Chinese have already made their polling stations in their
working places since they moved out from their hometowns.
Secondly, the school holidays week
is also a Holy Week for Christians. Good
Friday falls on March 29 and whereas Easter on 31. For Christians
there are two Festivals which are important to them. They are Christmas and
Good Friday-Easter. Good Friday is even a State Holiday for Sarawak and Sabah
in East Malaysia. In fact, For the Roman Catholics, they would even begin
celebrating Good Friday-Easter one month ahead.
Christians hope that PM Najib won’t
turn our Holy Month into a Poll-Campaign-Hassle-Month! During the recent
Christmas Party with some Church Leaders, Najib had
reassured the Christian community in Malaysia that the government recognised
them as an essential part of the nation.
My opinion is, not holding polls on our Holy Week is
doing us a favour. Najib must uphold BN’s pledge of “Janji Ditepati” (Promises
Fulfilled).
A population of 9.2% Christians in Malaysia is indeed not
a small population. Out of 10 citizens, one is a Christian. More than half of
the Christians dwelled in East Malaysia. Both BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) see
East Malaysia as a pivot of change. Come the 13th General Elections,
Christians could be the King Maker to decide who could wrestle Putrajaya
successfully!
Other than March, few would think that January and
February are not possible dates. Their logic is that the government planned to
distribute BR1M funds in January and February. Added to that, February is Chinese
New Year month. But with our outdated Electoral System whereby only the PM
could decide for polls, anything is possible. Remember the former PM Abdullah
Badawi? He dissolved Parliament on February 13. It fell on the 7th
day of Chinese New Year. After the news was announced, the country had switched
into a Battle Mood from a CNY Mood!
So, I pray that Najib would honor his words and show respect to the
Christians and Chinese by avoiding clashes with our Festivals.
