Many years ago, a friend who was active in the local politics invited a group of his close friends to grace a local district Chinese political party's youth committee election. At that time, we were what you termed as 'fence-setters'.

We had never sat foot into any political party office. We were damned inquisitive to see for ourselves just how it was, being a 'member' of the second largest party in the country.

We arrived in the vicinity of the designated area in due time. Our friend greeted us affectionately, though he was busy attending to all the errands he was entrusted with.

As we recalled later, he was eyeing one of the posts in the committee. He was working hard to prove himself or at least to be seen to doing so.

We were still holding on to the notion that our partisan friend was extremely fervent about serving the people and was proud to be an active member of this Chinese political party. We admired his courage, tenacity and intentions.

Coming back to the scene on that day, many of us were invited to a room on the second floor of a building. As we learned later, the building was a 'make shift' congregation site for the committee's election.

All the newcomers were gratified in that we were instantly recognised with our name tags hanging on to our necks. We were served with plenty of food and drink. We were flattered by the treatment as we were but political novices plucked from nowhere.

Then we were hurried to a classroom and introduced to two bigwigs. We were later told to remember their faces as they were the potential number one and number two candidates for the committee elections that day.

We were given a name list which we later learned was called the 'cai dan' (menu) in political meadows. The list consisted of the names of the candidates for the committee election. We were briefed how to carry out the voting on stage. Our group was told to look out for ‘its own people' who would be around the stage to ‘help' in the election.

The time arrived and there was a bus waiting for us to take us to a nearby hall where the election was to be held. Like a group a schoolchildren waiting for a spectacular event to be unveiled, we boarded the VIP bus in the most orderly manner. While in the bus, our 'likely' number two candidate came up and greeted us. This was followed by a three-minute partisan speech.

Another surprise unfolded when we were told that we could be greeted with animosity when we arrived as the ‘rival' group could attempt to stir up our feelings. What feelings, we asked as we started to stare at each another. We were bewildered with the string of 'surprises' that had begun to surface.

We thought that what was supposed to be a graceful election might turn unfriendly. Our hearts sank and the 15-minute journey was rather apprehensive from the look on some of the faces.

Once in the hall, we were told that a group of strangers that we had not met were our opposition. We were made to sit separately by our 'camp instructors'. This was also further manifested by us holding a different coloured 'cai dan' and both sides were not afraid to show off their preferences.

To the few of us, the strategy drawn out by each of the two camps were obvious. There was a 'system' in place to win the committee election. There were far too many dubious questions surrounding the committee election process. The system was full of shortcomings. It seemed that winners could be the camp that gathered more recruits.

The quality of the nominees and the people that were voting were not made known to each another. We were treated as robots and our votes were just a matter of formality. I'm sure the story narrated above is not strange to political enthusiasts.

Political novices like me could be rebuked for being grossly naive about Malaysian politics. This system has probably been working for a few decades and most likely is still rampant today. We could have walked out from the event but for the respect we had for our friend.

But ever since then, we have stopped believing in the ideology of this Chinese political party. The system took years to erect and is not easy to discard though there was a change of leadership in the party in recent months.

What we witnessed was just a district election and this could definitely be the scenario at the top as the people who uphold the system are part of the system from bottom to up.

For the system to work, it would require a 360 degree support mechanism. There are far too many interests, commitments and repercussions for the system to crumble.

It probably needs a few more 'political tsunami' to destroy this system but the system has the tendency to be resurgent as long as the second largest party and its die-hard members remain relevant and do not change their arrogant attitudes.

The Chinese political party (you must know its name by now) thinks it has a system that will help it to secure the agendas of those gluttonous politicians while continuing to survive the political upheavals in Malaysia.

The system was severely jolted on March 8, 2008 but it has not vanished. Truthfully, there is no check and balance to scrutinise the system as people have been told to join the system if they cannot beat it.

Over the years, we have seen genuine politicians jump onto the crony bandwagon and have since ‘disappeared' for the obvious reason as to keep a low profile.

As obedient Malaysians, let us deracinate this evil system from our society for good. Let us hope that this system would not see the light of day come the next major political tsunami.

Stop believing this system is the norm in our society and start believing we can create a brand new system for our beloved country and for our people.

Pinch yourself so that we can make the transformation.