It is still your right to rock the vote or spoil it

Pakatan Harapan has named Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (right) as its prime minister candidate and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (left) as its deputy prime minister candidate on January 7, 2018. -AP filepic

IN 1990, when I was studying at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, the United States, one of the biggest PSAs (public service announcements) of that year was the Rock the Vote campaign.

On MTV, Madonna, clad in a red bikini and wrapped in an American flag, urged Americans to register as a voter.

“Dr King, Malcolm X, freedom of speech is as good as sex. Abe Lincoln, Jefferson Tom, they didn’t need the atomic bomb. We need beauty, we need art. We need government with a heart,” she rapped to the tune of her hit song, Vogue.

The singer, who had not voted at the time, ended her 60-second video with this: “And if you don’t vote, you’re going to get a spankie.’’

The Rock the Vote campaign was to get apolitical young Americans to register to vote and urge them to get involved in the political process.

Fast forward to 2018 in Malaysia. There’s a reverse Rock the Vote movement called #UndiRosak (#SpoilVote).

The controversial movement can be summed up by a #UndiRosak slogan I saw on Facebook: “We want real change & real democracy, not just a choice between Coke & Pepsi.”

The spark was Pakatan Harapan’s announcement on Jan 7 that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is its prime minister candidate and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail its deputy prime minister candidate.

Some who are passionately against #UndiRosak argue that if you are unhappy with both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan, then vote for the lesser evil.

Some have called those advocating #UndiRosak as losers. Some have said the call for spoilt votes was just a way to keep Barisan in power.

Curious about the movement, I WhatsApp-ed one of its influencers, Edy Noor Reduan.

Edy Noor Reduan

The 37-year-old activist and blogger said it was a non-organised leaderless movement that started when voters were not happy that what Pakatan Harapan and Barisan offered in the coming GE14 was “not good enough for our votes”.

“There is no good choice, especially the PM candidates. We are only left with Mahathirism or the successor of the Mahathirism legacy,” said the Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) director of propaganda.

“Politically, are you inclined towards Barisan, Pakatan Harapan or PAS?” I asked, as I sometimes find the founder of SAMM, Badrul Hisham Shaharin, who is better known as Chegubard, behaving like a thorn in certain PKR leaders’ sides.

“I’m leaning towards Pakatan Harapan. But when they compromise with (Datuk Seri) Azmin Ali’s misdeeds and put up with Dr Mahathir as the Prime Minister candidate, then I’m out.”

Edy said #UndiRosak is trending after the Pakatan Harapan top leadership, including chairman Dr Mahathir, criticised it.

“Instead of offering constructive arguments against the movement, the Pakatan Harapan leadership has increased the popularity of #UndiRosak by criticising it harshly,“ he said.

On the influencers of the movement being labelled as losers, Edy said: “They have the right to say whatever they want. That is the beauty of democracy. Same for us, we also have our right to continue this campaign. But I can say the real losers are those who keep believing in false/fake hope.”

Friends have asked me whether I’m for or against #UndiRosak.

I’m neither.

If you don’t want to vote, that’s your right. But I’ll vote as my vote matters.

I predict that the contest in my Moyog state seat near Kota Kinabalu will be very close. My vote may make the difference.

For my Penampang parliamentary seat, I’ve been telling people the result is a foregone conclusion. But I’ll still vote as I don’t want Madonna to give me a spankie.

On Thursday night in Petaling Jaya, I met up with a pro-Opposition 40-something friend who might boycott GE14.

He likened Dr Mahathir to a freshwater fish dish.

“When you shove it down my throat, I can’t swallow it as it has too many bones,” said the Petaling Jaya Utara voter, referring to the decision to name the former prime minister as Pakatan Harapan’s prime minister candidate.

“What do you mean by bones?” I said.

“Look at this,” he said, and he played a YouTube clip on his smartphone. It started with FRU (Federal Reserve Unit) personnel beating and kicking reformasi demonstrators.

Then it showed sacked Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at Masjid Negara in 1998, with the crowd shouting “Undur Mahathir, undur. Selamatkan Malaysia” (Step down Dr Mahathir, step down. Save Malaysia). The clip ended with “Can Mahathir be forgiven?”.

“I can’t forgive him. Since the 1998 reformasi movement, Anwar, Kit Siang, Mat Sabu have been telling me that Dr Mahathir must resign.

“And now they are telling me that Dr Mahathir is their prime minister candidate,” he said, referring to DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.

“Who is a more palatable Pakatan Harapan prime minister candidate?” I asked.

“Why can’t Pakatan Harapan offer us younger leaders like Azmin or Mukhriz,” he said, referring to Selangor Mentri Besar and PKR deputy president Azmin and former Kedah Mentri Besar and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.

“Or Nurul Izzah (PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar) as Pakatan Harapan deputy prime minister candidate instead of her mother (Wan Azizah, the PKR president)?”

If named prime minister or deputy prime minister candidate, these younger-than-Dr Mahathir Opposition politicians would probably rock the vote.