Despite bursting at the seams with good news for the ‘rakyat’, my occasional reading of the newspapers still left me in a state of apprehension as to the party of my choice for the upcoming general elections.

The news seemed too good to be true. In just one edition of a daily, it was reported that the government had decided to drastically reduce the country’s dependency on foreign labour, to prioritise jobs for locals, to check the outflow of 20 essential and controlled goods, to increase allowances for National Service trainees and compensate the recent Pekan flood victims.

It did not end there. Local authority enforcement officers are to be trained and equipped to assist the police in the battle to fight rising crime rates in Selangor. There was the announcement that Thaipusam would be a public holiday for Kuala Lumpur! Not bad for a day’s work!

As an ordinary citizen of this country who is neither a politician nor a businessman, would it be too much to ask the government to keep this effort up throughout their five-year mandate? It does not take a genius to realise that the excessive foreign labour problem, unemployment and rising crime rates have been there for years.

As such, one cannot help but wonder if the current government sits on its laurels until election time before attempting to address ‘man on the street’ problems. If past performance is anything to go by, the government’s recent multi-million dollar campaign in the much-neglected Ijok constituency (it has been a BN seat for the longest time) by-election should bear testimony to this.

The harsh reality is that corruption and a lack of transparency in the government administration are still rife in day-to-day life. The rural indigenous peoples, Indians and Malays are still marginalised.

Things surely cannot be all that great as reported in the mainstream media as thousands continue to take to the street without fear or favour.

The irony is that it was MCA president Ong Ka Ting who accused the opposition of getting busy only before elections are called. Given the government’s absolute control over the mainstream media through oppressive laws that severely curtail freedom of expression, it comes as no surprise that the efforts of the opposition are rarely highlighted.

The result would naturally be a lack of information and confusion especially for voters who do not have any particular political allegiance.

I implore all these voters to exercise their constitutional right to vote in an informed manner by considering the alternative media, the foreign press etc and by attending ‘ceramahs’ and talks organizsd by the opposition and NGOs.

It is no sin to ‘shop around’; it is one of the few liberties that we have left. In doing so, remember that your obligation is to your country and its future - not to the government of the day!