"Virgin" Voter

In the last Malaysian 12th General Election, it was my first time exercising my voting rights. I'm eligible to vote in the last election in 2004, but I felt that I was not exposed / well informed enough to vote wisely; so I decided to give up my rights then, rather than vote for the "wrong team".

So, I'm no longer a "Virgin Voter".... :-p

Jokes aside, I really hope that the latest change in leadership for some states can bring about the long-awaited "check-&-balance" that the then opposition has been harping about. I hope that freedom of speech is improved; because I belief the more we suppress, the greater the resentment. I belief that the people at wise enough to decipher the truth from the false / the facts from the lies without needing inappropriate intervention.

I know there are many other "BIG", "GREAT" & Noble ideas / projects in plan / at the top of everyone's list such as :
1. Improvement of M'sia's economic condition
2. Lower / maintaining M'sia's high cost of living - especially fuel / toll rates
3. Equal education opportunities - more Chinese / Tamil Type Schools
4. Improve the safety & security of the general public on the streets from crimes of snatch thiefs / plain daylight robbery
5. Improve the general public transport system (no waiting for 1 hour for a delayed Komuter!)
etc.... etc.... etc....

Most of the agenda listed on the newspapers & websites are so great that I find my request to be quite trivial. But since this is my blog, I have the rights to air them anyway.... :-)

I'll start with an analogy.
I was very blessed & fortunate to be brought up in a house with 5 rooms - 1 for my parent, 1 for my grandparent, 1 for my 2 brothers, 1 for myself (the advantage of being the only daughter) & the last spare room is what we call the Study Room. The study room is almost the heart of our house because I remembered it is where my brothers & I do my homework (with no TV sounds to distract us). It is also where the family adjourn to in the evening to read before we go to sleep. It is a room with bookshelves installed to the ceiling & we have rows & rows of books that's being replenished so fast that we ran out of space to store. As a family unit, I feel that we have a very healthy environment to learn & grow.

I was then brought to a "mansion" to my standard because it has 3 floors & a roof-top balcony. The ground floor is a very spacious living room with flat screen TV, Hi-Fi & foot massager; with a dining room, dry & wet kitchen and a maid's room. The second floor is a master bedroom, 2 rooms for the children & a small office space for the dad at the landing of the 2nd floor. The third floor is where the "party" begins; starting from the smallest room converted into a gym room, a jacuzzi room complete with TV & cascading water features, a multimedia room that is equiped with surround-sound system & walls padded as in the cinema with multiple recliners, an "indoor balcony" with a curved glass panel over-looking KLCC & a bar for the landing of the third floor. Amidst such opulence, I'm surprised & sad that there's 1 room missing.... a study room / reading room / library. It's amazing that a house that has a jacuzzi & a home theatre doesn't have a study room safe for the little office that is at the landing & not even a proper room!

It may be a matter of perception, but I feel that Malaysia as a country is exactly like the mansion I was talking about. It has the KL Twin Towers, the KL Tower, Times Square, Mid-Valley Megamall cum the Gardens, it has the KL Convention Centre, KL Sentral (that may I add is not exactly the Central Public Transportation hub) & great sky scrappers... yet we lack good libraries. We may boast we have the National library, but that's it?!? For 20+million people? I have also been to the library in Port Dickson & some of the other town areas; though they are housed in huge & beautiful architecture (& some in a single storey badly maintained building); but the books collection is appaling. I'm sure any average book-loving citizen would have better books collection than these libraries! The facilities also does not encourage people to stay there for long.

In comparison to our neighbouring countries like Singapore & Japan (the only 2 countries I had the opportunity to visit their library); they are heaven in comparison. There are activity rooms, story telling, colourful charts & pictures on the walls, comfortable sofas / clean carpet areas for the children. There are sections for adults with public talks, book launches & new book recommendations. The chairs are comfortable cushioned chairs with tables of the right height to the chairs, rather than stiff plastic chairs with tables that are too high / too low / rotting with termites. The librarians are friendly, helpful & well versed with the layout & items in the library. You can also place a "wish list" if you found a good book / literature that should be added to the library collection. Outside of the library is a cafe & a park to relax for students wanting to relax after studying. There are also "play" areas with life size chess boards / checkers. Most importantly, all these wonderful facilities are for free!

So how can we claim to want to develop "Human Capital" & promote K-Economy, when we're not preparing a condusive environment to develop & inculcate the culture of reading. Instead we have more shopping malls than we care to count with fantastic free feeder busses to link from 1 mall to the other! Instead we have sky scrappers that are filled with luxurious suites / hotels for rent to expats & tourists! Instead we have the Twin Tower to show the world we have the tallest / the Eye on Malaysia to show that Malaysia Boleh.

In the end, we are like the 3-storey mansion. I nice "show-off" equiped with all the luxuries in life but "empty" in substance.

Trivial as my wish may be, I truly hope that we can improve our Human Capital....

Long Live Malaysia!!

From - The Virgin Voter