Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Do The Right Thing



The banners are up, security suddenly tightened, posters and articles trading accusations filled the walls of faculties. All these can only mean one thing...the campus election is around the corner.

Once again, the fight is on between the pro-aspirasi and pro-mahasiswa factions.

Although, student bodies are prohibited from being affiliated with any political parties, it's little secret that one faction is pro-establishment (pro-aspirasi) while the other is anti-establishment (pro-mahasiswa)

Student politics are a reflection of national politics, no matter how the authorities try to conceal it.

Perhaps mirroring the political situation outside of campus, the odds are heavily stacked against the opposition in the campus polls as well. The authorities are known to throw their backing behind pro-aspirasi candidates to ensure their victory.

During my 1st year, all Chinese students were made to attend a gathering to listen to some talk by the representatives of the Chinese student committee. We were told specifically not to vote for the pro-mahasiswa or 'green faction'


This is what happen when you let them win


If they came to power, the Chinese students will suffer. There will be strict enforcements on our attire & entertainment will be forbidden (except nasyid performances). Our campus will be turned into a Taliban approved learning centre!

Those possibilities alone are enough to make us gullible 1st year students make the 'right choices'.


Random picture, nothing to do with this post whatsoever


And for those of us who live in residential colleges, rumours that we will be kick out of college if we voted for the 'wrong' candidates will be passed around every year.

College authorities made it clear that they support the pro-aspirasi candidates. More intimidating is the fact that the ballot paper is marked with a serial number traceable to our names.

Doesn't matter whether those rumours are true or false, the majority wouldn't want to take the risk.

Nobody really cares about student politics anyway. Student activism is severely curtailed in Malaysia unlike their counterparts in other countries, where they are influential in initiating political, social & economic changes.


Student activism means standing in from of a tank to make a point


But here, the candidates are reduced to fighting over petty issues like prices of food in cafetaria and the bus schedule.

I hope I do not get into trouble for my rantings. Did I not mentioned that threats and intimidations aside, the campus elections are 100% clean & fair. And I promise that when election comes, I will do the 'right thing'



12 comments:

Tekkaus said...

Sound so familiar...are you in UKM? Or perhaps other local u. Been there, done that! We were forced to do the same thing back then. =)

acura said...

You are correct, I am talking about the elections in UKM. Try to make it as vague as possible haha So, you are a former UKM student as well. I guess they have been using those tactics for quite some time then

Bernard Chung said...

hehe...these things sounds so familiar.
Wasn't that happened in other branches of UKM as well. Here in KTSN, the scenarios are the same and no doubt should be the same in every university elections
Looks like another big win for Pro-Aspirasi? LOL

IuhniX said...

Sound very familiar.The UKMers will understand what are you talking about.Well...what can we do?

~YM~ said...

haha, i did the right thing too..

how's the results over the other side?

the "ADUN" here went the "right" way too.. :P

Oh ya, uni politics are really redundant esp when they ask ppl from UKMMC to vote for Bangi people, which does not affect us at all. And they never even bother of us in Cheras anyway. *sigh*

And there goes my undi rosak for umum. Wahaha...

acura said...

bernard : I think it's the same situation for all IPTA.

Aspirasi did not win big this time though, they only won 21 out of 34 seats. Tsunami in UKM haha

luhniX : Wait till I am in the final year. I will have nothing to lose then...

acura said...

wong : The Aspirasi won 21 out of 34 seats. The engineering fac went to pro-mahasiswa this time.

You guys have to vote for the Bangi people too, eh? It's redundant cause most of the issues in the manifesto deals with the Bangi campus.

Isn't the undi rosak a sign of protest? Haha

foongpc said...

I say, be neutral and don't vote for any side. Undi rosak is the way to go : )

Johnny Ong said...

as always, vote without fear

renaye said...

well, it strikes me as there is no wrong and right in pretext. however, students, in ur case r punished for the right and the wrong. there's no more justice. there's no more clear line as justice...

yes u went mia so long .. what happened? kena kidnap as father christmas is it? so this time will be choi san?

renaye
http://renaye.nutang.com

renaye said...

happy chinese new year.

renaye
http://renaye.nutang.com

moonshadow said...

hi~im coming~
err~
for me tey have nothing rite way no matter how you do~
you may jz can do what you think rite...or stick to yourself
maybe we need to know why tey do like tz jz we take our action..
not all the IPTA are same. some still fair d...
haiz~tat very complicated la~
i juz care tat i do well or not,the others cant control so much lol...

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