Like Christmas, GE 13 is fast approaching. Without doubt, GE13 will just about be the most crucial electoral event the rakyat has ever faced.

As this is the only occasion in the next four to five years that unhappy citizens will have in exercising their constitutional rights to wield the singular powerful weapon they have, and that is ‘the vote', citizens owe it to themselves and their progeny to vote wisely and smartly.

All the raw elements pertaining to the government's record in the handling of race and religious issues, the economy, law and order, education and public administration have been exposed for all to see and judge for themselves.

Additionally, world events such as the as yet unresolved severe financial crises in the United States and the Euro zone nations' serious debt issues have and will continue to adversely impact on our lives and standard of living now and especially in the future.

To top it off, the world has been made fully aware of the unrest in the Arab world through the Arab Spring upheavals that have resulted in the overthrow of corrupt and despotic governments that have existed well beyond their use-by-dates.

By now, voters would and should be aware that only losers place blind trust and loyalty in the politicians they vote for as past experience has shown that at the end of the day, these politicians will look after themselves, their relatives and cronies first, second and third and the rakyat a distant last.

It is therefore imperative that voters take the trouble to find out the agendas of the politicians they are opting for.

Admittedly this is not an easy task as politics is all about wheeling and dealing in getting the numbers, making promises and giving assurances that are true, false or otherwise in order to win support from their peers and electorates.

The political arena is like a bear pit where nice guys lose or come out last. That is why it is mostly those who are predisposed to unconscionable Machiavellian tactics that end up as leaders. This is also why in developed countries:

  • It is only the ignorant or the feeble-minded who believe and trust their prime ministers and ministers implicitly in whatever they say or do.

  • The politicians in power have to indulge in rent-a-crowd-mob theatrics in order to boost their images and popularity ratings.

  • The politicians are the servants rather than the masters of the people such as the ones in this country.

  • It is regarded a very bad idea to have unlimited terms of government for political parties as in the words of wisdom of Lord Acton that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Truer words have never been uttered!

  • Transparency is everything. Politicians and political parties should have no role to play in the mainstream media.

  • No head of government can ever willingly or unwillingly leave office with billions of pounds/dinars/dollars of the peoples' purse such as dictators of this world like Mubarak and Gadaffi have done.

    • Bear in mind that whilst the agendas of dopey single-issue politicians are in the open for all to see, it is the hidden agendas of the smarter politicians that need to be carefully evaluated because of their serious ramifications on you, the rakyat.

    Finally, be on the look out for the furtive ‘thin end of the wedge' tactic that our Umno government politicians are masters of.

    If not for the use of this tactic, there is simply no way that the Umno warlords could have achieved so much for themselves and their cronies and at the expense of the rest of the community these past 40 years. Unfortunately, silence is anything but golden in politics.