I take on democracy...

"The term is derived from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) 'rule of the people', which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) 'people' and κράτος (krátos) 'power', in the middle of the 5th-4th century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens. Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy', there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes: equality and freedom. These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to power, and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution...from Wikipedia"

on this foolish day...i would like to share a silly idea of mine...
on this foolish day...i foolishly take on a heavy topic...Democracy...
actually this topic is quite boring to most...likewise it could be interesting to some...



(Disclaimer: I'm no expert in law and constitution and definitely not politic...what I'm writing is based on my reading and interpretation as an ignorant citizen...and my ideas are silly...and NO I'm not running in the next election)

people always say the middle class can determine the political landscape of a country...hey that includes me...
now that I'm officially a striving middle class Malaysian...I'm a little bit more interested with politic...

back to this entry...what triggered this silly thought was an entry i read at our dear Tun M's blog...titled Democracy
in the mentioned article...he expressed his view on democracy and how it should work...ideally

in a nutshell...from what i understood (again...i'm merely an ignorant citizen), he emphasized on how the minority, who lose to the majority in the election, should work together with the majority and "both the majority and the minority would contribute to the proper workings of a democratic Government"...i hope i did not misquote him...

when i first read it...i thought...em...his message is so obvious...and so purposeful (if you know what i mean)...yet something is not right with our democracy...not just the way the government and the opposition interact...but something else...

until i came across another article in Newsweek, (which is ALWAYS talking about democracy) talking about how democracies are dying around the world in the last decade...a few examples mentioned in the article...the more familiar ones...Thailand, the Philippines, Iraq, Iran...and the less familiar ones...Venezuela, Mexico, some countries in Latin America, some countries in Africa...i also cannot remember lar...

well...they have a few things, if not all, in common...

• corrupt leaders (and government)
  
• cronyism
• questionable judiciary institution
• unfair election
  
• suppressing opposition...and in some countries to the extend of kidnapping and killing
• biased and restricted media (broadcast, publishing, internet, etc.)
  
• inefficient public service

some of them sounds familiar to you?

one may ask...how could that happen? there are check and balance in democracy, aren't there?

this is what happens when a government (or its leaders) become too powerful...and too arrogant...
ideally...we give them power to rule...and they use the power to rule for the good of all citizens...
but when they abuse the power for their own good...how is democracy any better than autocracy?

so what can we do? each of us only has one vote...so use it wisely...
vote for representatives, regardless of political party, who are sincere, intelligent and with integrity...(i know what some of my friends will say...like that no need to vote lor...haha)

the least we can do is do not reward corrupted leaders with the power to corrupt...