Growing Pains - the 2010 PKR Elections

As I have thought, PKR Malaysia's inaugural 'Total Democracy' elections was wrought with problems. Thus far, six (6) branches (or termed as 'Cabang' to differentiate it from UMNO's 'Bahagian') have adjourned their elections to another sitting. Fracas erupted in Klang and many 'Heavyweights' faltered. But things are not as bleak as it seems!

PKR is ambitious. Even UMNO acknowledges this. Through its Advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PKR mooted that it shall introduce and practice the 1st ever '1-vote per member' in order to elect the Cabang and PKR Central office bearers. This dream is more easily said than done.

Dr. Molly Cheah, in her appointment as the Elections Commission ala PKR, have presumably thought up many scenarios, probable outcomes, problems, logistics; all this together with the fact that money is not an easy commodity to get for PKR, and she has managed to station and equip all Cabangs with manpower and equipment. Sufficiency (or lack thereof) is another matter, one that was obviously miscalculated by herself and her assistants.

Sure, being the pioneer for this type of 'Democratic Revolution' will certainly invite some form of trouble. But I will refuse to be drawn into the argument that 'this should be like that' or 'this is not enough' as what I see is a political party that is totally committed to the cause of Democracy practicing what they preach. A critical component in any political party.

The mere fact that there were insufficient ballot papers and boxes speak volumes. 1) people are in droves registering themselves with PKR, 2) the election generated political interest in an otherwise politically-tired country (what more with the recent death of Galas Assemblyman Che Hashim Sulaiman). and 3) people are willing to experiment themselves by participating in a democratic process.

We should not slam the party for these problems but instead find constructive ways to help our dear Dr. Molly Cheah to identify the problems that have occured, formulate remedies and InsyaAllah the next time PKR hold elections there will be less and less problems.

We all should learn from these events and remind ourselves that as we wish to 'teach' others we ourselves need to abide by the very same ideals that we seek to propagate, lest we are labelled as 'cakap tak serupa bikin', a common people's motto for the ruling UMNO and Barisan Nasional.

Let's celebrate the fact that these very mistakes will lead to a stronger PKR to the detriment of UMNO and BN.