Indelibility Inc.

Technorati tags: Humor, Politics, Election Commission, Indelible Ink, Scandal

You may probably think that Walski's stating the glaringly obvious, but some things simply refuse to go away. Like Herpes. Or this thing about the indelible ink that was supposed to have been used during the last General Elections.

Well, a new twist was revealed today, via Malaysiakini. It appears that the proposed use of indelible ink during the last GE was one big, fat, lie after all.

The good thing about democracy (despite what the anti-democracy, pro-totalitarian Caliphate, Hizbut Tahrir idiots think - but that's a whole other rant), is that the government of the people gets to rule. And that's always a good thing - a government that is accountable to the people who voted them in. This is particularly true of the state level of government.

The bad thing about Malaysian-style democracy is that at the federal level, sometimes bad governments get to stay on. And on. Like persistent curry stains. Or indelible ink.

This latest admission by EC chairman Abdul Rashid really riles Walski, let's get that bit clear. But there's a silver lining here, Walski thinks - while this may be only the tip of the big Malaysian government iceberg of lies, with global warming, you never know what else we're going to find out in the very near future...
(new heat wave in Parliament, and more, in the full post)

Since filing police reports is becoming the fashionable thing to do these days, Walski's just waiting for someone to file one against the previous Cabinet. The whole Cabinet. Somehow, the spidey senses tell Walski that this is what we're gonna see pretty soon.

And then Walski will sit back and watch the fun as the next sitting of Parliament attempts to bring this up for discussion. But will it be allowed by the Speaker of da House? Now that's an interesting question.

Interesting, because of this (via Bernama):

Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia has resigned as the Kota Marudu Umno divison head to concentrate on his new role as the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

Pandikar Amin said that as Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, he must be seen to be a fair person and thus it was not proper for him to be active in politics.

"The late Tun Zahir Ismail had never held any party post when he was the Dewan Rakyat Speaker for 22 years. So I too must prove that I'm not involved actively because I am the Speaker for everyone," he told Bernama when contacted here, Thursday.

Pandikar Amin said he had just sent a letter to Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on his decision to relinquish his Umno post.
(source: Bernama)

Now, the cynic in Walski immediately zoomed in on the phrase "must be seen to be a fair person". But assuming the cynical side of Walski is full of shit, and we actually have a totally impartial speaker of Da House, Parliament is gonna get a hell of lot more interesting from now on.

Guess we'll have to wait and see...

In the meantime, it turns out, once again, the people of Malaysia have been lied to. There was no plan to go ahead with the indelible ink. Which raises a few other questions of interest, many of which were also raised earlier by Marina M. in her post about a week ago, when it was revealed that the police investigations pertaining to the indelible ink sabotage revealed a big fat zero.

• What happened to the RM 2.4 Million approved for the ink purchase? Was there even any funding set aside for this?
• Following the first couple of questions, if there was an approved budget, what happened to the money?
• If the Election Commission is supposed to be independent, why did it succumb to Cabinet's pressure?
• Who filed the police report?
• Isn't filing a falsified police report a crime? And if so, why hasn't the filing party been charged?
• Was obeying the Cabinet's wishes the EC chairman's decision alone, or was it unanimous within the EC?
• Why is Rashid Abdul Rahman still the EC chairman?

Marina, though, got one part spot on in her post - we, the public had been blatantly lied to. By a government that seems to think half-truths and obfuscation is part of good governance. These behavioral attributes may be great for remaining in government, but by any measure, not good as far as governance is concerned.

Heck, it's no good for any reason - period.

But today, it's pretty much the same core executive branch of government - the Cabinet - that we have to put up with. True, many of the individuals of the previous cabinet didn't survive March 8 and its aftermath. But key individuals still remain unchanged.

Perhaps we shouldn't call it The Cabinet anymore. Yeah, Walski can think of only one apt moniker to label our executive... one that's next to impossible to get rid of...

Indelibility Inc.