To vote, or not to vote?

So the Malaysian Parliament has been dissolved. Day of election is coming. I'm not a political guy, matter of factly. I just don't have the time (and luckily most of my mates don't really bother about it - or if they did we never really talked about it) nor the interest to know what happens and what decisions is being made as long as it has positive impact on my immediate surroundings. (Ignorance is a bliss, eh?)

I still get asked a lot tho. "Are you going to vote?" "No." "Did you even register as a voter?" "Nope." "Why didn't you?" "Please refer to question and answer 1." It's a very effective deterrent for people who consistantly talks about politics and how our votes would change things and this and that. Yeap, I agree to that, but I disagree with Malaysian political culture. 

Purely for reference, not comparison, in the US the candidates would have a civilised debate, live, in front of their supporters. I have yet to see our candidates do that. I'd like to see it. Maybe they did and I missed it (like I said, I'm quite ignorant on this issue). What I see is the opposition throws and issue out, promises to solve it because the current government did not do anything. The current government then retaliate by saying such proposal is absurd. Then comes the sex scandals. Comes bribe issues. Comes this and that - and the main issue becomes a background. What we do is we stab each other's back. We fight dirty, that's what we do. 

A friend of mine tweeted something along the line of "Please hurry up the election before more sex scandals pops up. We're tired of it." I suppose a lot of people feel that way. The people's problems become secondary, and the personal (and dark side of professional) life of a candidate becomes the highlight. I gotta say, the media does not help. 

My parents are probably not going to vote either - for an entirely different reason. The "permanent in" or "dakwat kekal" that was introduced as part of the voting procedure worries them. Being obidient Muslims, they are afraid that the ink would prevent them from proper ablution and thus cannot perform the prayer. I've tried to explain to them that the ink allows water to pass through, much like inai, but alas, they said better safe then sorry. I even showed them the statement from Mufti and all those Islamic Governing department things whatever. (That shows how indifferent I am about voting)

Well, am I going to vote? Perhaps. I hope I have the motivation to learn a little politics, at least at the area where I'm supposed to vote. But for now, I really can't be arsed. Maybe when I see changes in the political arena - fight fair for voters' confidence, then I'll start voting.