I refer to the Malaysiakini report Winning over urban votes in Klang valley .

If you want to see the real contest between the ruling parties and the opposition parties, the battle lies in urban areas where the main rivals will fight tooth and nail to win votes in hotly contested seats which can go either way on Saturday..

Rural areas tends to be a dull affair as a majority of the voters have been brainwashed by the ruling parties to vote for them as the catchword pembangunan is used over and over again by the ruling parties to entice these voters who still lack basic infrastructure such as good roads, clinics and schools.

Rural voters tend to be ignorant about government weaknesses and thinks that only BN can delivers while the oppositions can only make noise in the august house. At the other end of the spectrum, urban voters who are well-educated, savvy and demanding wouldn’t give a hoot about clogged drains or uneven roads. Their basic needs are basically taken care of and they want their elected representatives to fight for national issues when in parliament.

If the sentiment on the ground today can be turned into votes, the BN candidates will have a run for their money as the opposition parties are drawing in huge crowds to their daily ceramah all over the country. Times are a-changing and the people’s expectations are higher. With all the government scandals plus the cost of living going up , the common people have lost hope in the present regime.

It s a well-known fact that in urban areas where the Chinese are the majority, the DAP will win at the expense of MCA and Gerakan. Whether the urban Malays will switch camps and vote for PAS and the multiracial PKR is yet to be seen but in Sealangor, the winds of change are slowly blowing and Umno might lose some hot seats where Malay sentiment will see a swing.

Anwar Ibrahim is a crowd-pullers whose oratory skills can turn the tide against the present regime.

After 50 years of independence and of being ruled by the same parties, one would think that the present regime would have evolved with time. Sad to say, their leaders still think that voters in this country can be hoodwinked come election time.

Well, they are wrong and BN is living in some time capsule. The people, especially the young and educated, know what is right or wrong in this country. The old method of using the race and religion cards and resurrecting he ghost of May 13 to scare the non Malays is out of date. People will not fall for the same old tricks again.

This coming 12th general elections will be a watershed one for this country. Will a new dawn rise over the political landscape on March 9? Or will the statue quo remain with BN still retain its two- third majority for business as usual?

The choice is up to us. Shall we continue to elect mediocre MPs who will toe the party line and line their own pockets at the same time or should there be bigger opposition presence in Parliament to act as a check and balance? Time will tell.