COME the November 19 general election, for some, it could be a get-out-of-jail card.

Those planning new schemes to steal taxpayers’ monies or are in the process of doing so but ceased due to the polls, and those who have benefitted previously will be having their celebratory gathering close to midnight for the impending windfall.

One man could realise his life-long ambition. Will Bursa Malaysia benefit from this or will reactions be muted?

Losers on November 19 will go back to the drawing board to hatch another Sheraton Move.

Lies will be created to spread hatred and fears among the races again.

Losing coalitions will start making moves to discard and replace leaders who failed in the quest. Warlords in the political parties that lost will be put out to pasture.

New faces, shut out from the political hierarchy in their respective parties for the past decade, will emerge.

To move up their party ranks, they will resort to playing the racial and religious card internally.

The people will probably witness another merry-go-round with politicians and parties scheming to realign themselves through the available loopholes in the anti-party hopping law.

The country’s stability – an oft-repeated excuse that is of no relevance and makes little difference to the people’s livelihood – will be used to justify the merry-go-round.

Majority of the pledges made in the run-up to November 19 will go into storage to be recycled in the next general election.

Also playing on the minds of the people, is the kind of bearing the general election will have on the economy. 

The Consumer Price Index, the inflation gauge, will continue to inch forward. Living costs will continue to rise for the average households.

Borrowing costs for individuals will increase further, leaving the average households to struggle and juggle with their monthly expenses.

People will again be encouraged to consume kangkung or have fried rice at home as ways of managing rising costs of living.

Ideas on how to weather headwinds will abound, and politicians will set up committees to study the feasibility of their ideas and to show they are serious about such claims.

As expected, there will be silence thereafter and the issues conveniently forgotten.

The people are only of value to the politicians once in five years, and during the two-week campaigning period. Once it is over, they will be discarded like used paper napkins.

Maybe a gridlock where no one has a majority will be good for the country as no coalition will dare or is capable of pushing through wasteful projects that only benefit the politicians and their cronies but not the people.

Promises of job creation will remain unfulfilled. Presently, there are vacancies for a million jobs but it is mainly in the dirty, dangerous and difficult category. Maybe these are the jobs they promised. 

Just like how they proudly proclaimed they have help the people to alleviate their sufferings by allowing them to withdraw from their Employees Provident Fund, leaving them to wonder how they will ride through their golden years with dwindled savings.

The education system will continue in its current trajectory – a mismatch of the graduates’ qualifications with the employment opportunities available. 

Every year, soon-to-be and future graduates from this education system will continue to struggle to find employment within the country. 

Seeking employment in foreign countries is a non-starter owing to the limited marketability of the qualifications that local higher education institutions dish out to them.

To compound matters, we can only pray they will not end up in 3D jobs in neighbouring countries.

The country will continue to be flooded with foreign labour on grounds that they are needed for the 3D jobs locally.

Malaysia will continue to fall further behind its neighbours in economic opportunities and growth.

New versions of the white flag movement will spring up, where again, it will be the people who will reach out and help fellow citizens in distress.

And the country will continue its slide towards obscurity, financially and economically.

Frightening? Then please come out and vote wisely. – November 11, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.