Ampun Tuanku

Open letter to Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Dipertuan Agong on Bersih 2.0

 

Ampun Tuanku Beribu-ribu Ampun. Sembah Patik harap Diampun.

Your Majesty,

I write to you as your loyal subject, a common rakyat of Malaysia. I’m not a member of any political party or NGO on either side of the political divide, and I do not support any political party per-se.

 

Ampun Tuanku,

Firstly, I would like to thank Your Majesty for the timely decree on the Bersih 2.0 march, urging all parties to exercise restrain. This shows Your Majesty’s compassion for our well being and Your Majesty’s wisdom to come to the rakyat’s side in times of crisis.

We are indeed living in a time of great tribulation. Although on the outside, everything looks promising, with the country apparently forging ahead in this new decade, a lot of rakyats feel otherwise. Our economy is fast losing out to neighbouring countries, foreign direct investment into our beloved Malaysia is falling, and we are losing our best brains to other countries.

In addition to that, sectarianism is on a level that is higher than we have ever seen, racism seems to appear out of every corner we turn, and recently, there seems not a day would have gone by when we are not reminded of the horrible specter of May 13.

I may be wrong, and that our government may indeed be doing a fantastic job managing our country.

But the beauty of a free Constitutional Monarchy is that Your Majesty have given your subjects a right to form and express their opinions freely, without fear or favour, as long as it is within the confines of the law.

 

Ampun Tuanku,

I am sure Your Majesty, in your kindness and compassion, is sad to see your subjects arrested almost daily just for the petty “offences” of wearing a certain coloured shirts and being detained without a proper trial.

It is therefore, the right of each and every individual rakyat to say whether the government of the day is doing a good job or otherwise, peacefully through the ballot boxes once every five years or so. They have been given that right exactly because no government is perfect, and in a democracy, we can change what the rakyat feels is not satisfactory and we can give the alternative a chance.

In an ideal and fair democracy, the voice of the majority will have to be respected and the government of the day, voted by the majority of the people, shall govern and take care of Your Majesty’s loyal subjects for the terms entrusted upon them.

 

Ampun Tuanku,

The spirit of our country’s democracy may be ideal in writing, but in practice it is flawed. Our Election Commission does not give a fair fighting chance to the opposition parties, and it has been so for many decades.

For example, in the Parliament seat of Serdang (P102), there is a total of 94,877 voters while in Putrajaya (P125), the total voters stands at 6,608.

This means that 94 thousand of your loyal subjects are represented by one MP in Serdang while the other 6 thousand in Putrajaya gets their own representative in Dewan Rakyat.

In addition to that, during elections, the ruling government gets the lion’s share of the media publicity, rendering the majority of Tuanku’s subjects unable to hear what the other side has to say. Perhaps the ruling representative may be the best choice, and  perhaps not, but in Your Majesty’s good sense I am sure Tuanku would want your subjects to hear out what each candidate has to say and then make their own learned judgment.

I chose to highlight the points above to Tuanku in hope that Your Majesty can see that the rakyat is being denied the very basic right of being a citizen – to choose a government via the voting process fairly and cleanly.

 

Ampun Tuanku,

There may be other demands made by the Bersih coalition, and I am sure Your Majesty would have studied them all in great details and with the highest wisdom on whether they are good for Tuanku’s people or otherwise.

I am sure Your Majesty, in your grace and compassion, would like to know what the majority of your subjects’ true opinions are. In my humble opinion, Ampun Tuanku, a clean and fair ballot box represents the best and most peaceful method of that referendum for Your Majesty.

I trust your Majesty’s wisdom and excellent judgment will come to the people’s aid during this trying time, and I would like to reaffirm the rakyat’s loyalty and love for Your Highness.

 

Ampun Tuanku Beribu-ribu Ampun. Sembah patik pacal yang hina ini harap diampun.

Daulat Tuanku! Daulat Tuanku! Daulat Tuanku!

Yours Sincerely,

Leon Lee

 

LEON LEE  is a proud pendatang in his own country Malaysia and tweets as @LeonLeeBMG