Saturday, February 19, 2011

Election

This weekend will be the general election for the University of Malaya and these past few days, candidates are allowed to campaign whether it be in faculty or college. I personally think that some people are taking this election too seriously. Im not trying to say that electing a good and capable student representative is of no importance, but there's a fine line between peace and chaos. There's been a number of newspaper articles written on the things that went down during this time and most fell short of bringing pride to UM. The campaigns done by the respective candidates of each party has went a little overboard with parties performing protests and in the process of these protests, properties were damaged. What kind of message are we sending to the public on how University Malaya students conduct ourselves. Moreover, these candidates could be the future leaders of our country. With that being said, is it justifiable to resort to such actions just to be heard. It was only back before civilization had been properly erected that men resorted to brute force to achieve their goals, and to me theres no difference between then and now. Is this what we are reduced to?? Is a seat in the University's democratic board of such value that we it may be trade with rationality? To the candidates who've brought the spotlight upon UM for these acts I have nothing to say to you and all I can do is a shake of head as a sign of disapproval.

I know that its not right for me to jump to conclusions and to assume the worst in people and that I should listen to their side of the story as there's always two sides to a story but lately I think this statement is a bit of a Cliché. To justify what I just said Im gonna let you guys in on what happened. For an election to happen there must be candidates to run. In UM, theres generally 3 parties that constitutes the election and they are Pengerak who are the ones for the current UM administration, PRO-UM who are the ones who are against the current UM administration and Bebas who are the free parties that fight for the rights constituted by themselves. Ok I admit, Im not quite sure about the bebas party but its something like as mentioned. Candidates will run for either two seats which are the umum (general) seat which gives them authority over the student council of the whole University and the faculty seat which is self explanatory. Before the election candidates are to hand in their candidacy and what happened is that 7 candidates of the PRO party were disqualified by the current University administration due to reasons Im not clear with myself. However, 3 of the candidates's disqualification had been lifted on the day of the naming of the candidates but it couldnt be said same for the remaining candidates. Feeling that the decision was a little one sided, the PRO party decided to protests for the lifting of the disqualification of the remaining candidates. The party waited outside the deputy Vice-Chancellors office from morning till evening but throughout the period, the DVC refused to meet them giving the excuse of a busy schedule. So to get her attention, they decided to force open her door and the newspaper article said that they even broke down the door. Contrary to the the article, witnesses said they merely loosen the door out of its hinge. Although the damage was minor but they could be charge under breaking and entering. As for another story, it was said that a person's car window got broken during this protest. Im not sure of the truth behind this story but if it is true then shame on them. Sometimes our need to achieve our goals can bring out the worst in us and its safe to say that this election has been nothing but a hassle. A hassle to deal with all the empty promises that have been said (not entirely true but its what I think), a hassle to see debates escalate to a screaming competition and thats just the tip of the iceberg. College security has been tighten to prevent unwanted trouble to arise due to certain campaigns and although my faculty is adjacent to my college I am force to walk a long distance just to go to class despite it being close.

Whatever written in this post is JUST MY POINT OF VIEW and you can choose to agree or disagree. Dont take the perception of others as an insult and dont always get the compulsive need to get people to agree with you ALL THE TIME. We're all entitled to our own opinions. Im not hurting, degrading, insulting or causing anyone negative outcomes for that manner so I think Im entitled to this! Owh ya, a shoutout to a few of my friends running for the election!! All the best tou you and if elected guys, please try to stay with your word and make our University a better place

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