It is kind of pathetic that our only way of participating in the democratic process is by casting one teeny weeny vote. From this vote, the contestant with the majority votes, even by one vote, will get to be the representative either at the state or parliament. It's a simple process and we've been doing it regularly every five years or so since we obtained independence.

I guess we're doing quite well for a nation of 47 years. But there's always this niggling thought at the back of my mind: could we have done better? Could there be less corruption at all levels of our society? Must two prime ministers who came into power during my lifetime begin their administration talking about corruption and clean administration? Did it mean nothing was done by the former PM that the latter one had to start all over? Could crime be reduced instead of getting all these weird acts of crime?

I'm sure people will tell me, instead of talking about it from the outside, join a political party and do something about it. Yeah right, the image of a guy in the Sungai Buloh prison came to mind. Better just to shut up and put up with the shenanigans.

There is another way but it requires for most common people like me to conspire in the general election and return more opposition candidates in parliament. There is no need to let them win any states, just put more of them in the Dewan Rakyat . Better still, deny the symbolic two-thirds majority that the ruling party covets so much. You only need a simple majority to form a government anyway.

Wouldn't it be great if the two-thirds majority is denied? The ruling party would realise that even though many people voted for them, a considerable amount also voted for the other party. It would say to itself, "Hmmm, we cannot just do as we like anymore. We must govern better, be a cleaner administration."

The problem with this country is that, when the ruling party loses a state like the one I'm working in now, Terengganu, it doesn't try to show that it is a better party. Instead it punishes the voters by taking away the bulk of the funds for the state and giving them to the ruling party politicians for them to disseminate to the people. Who wouldn't like free money, right? But in the long run, it will have a disastrous effect.

That's why we need a responsible government which will build schools, train better teachers, get more police force on the streets to thwart of criminals and improve public amenities.

Right now the so-called wang ehsan (oil royalty) goes through the ruling party politicians first without any proper monitoring or accounting done and it is up to them to disseminate the money to whomever they like. Who dares to deny that those politicians won't take some of that money and channel them into their own pockets? In the end, the voters lose out.

And one parting thought, if I am one of those politicians, would I work hard to ensure the ruling party win in the coming election in the state? I won't because the wang ehsan might not be there for my taking anymore. So might as well lose but at least I'll still have money to bring home at the end of the day.