I HAVE never written a letter to the editor but I feel compelled to write one today. I am a Selangor resident and I vote in an urban constituency in the state. I am a housewife with two teenage sons and I double up as an English tutor. I read the main news portals every morning and I follow political news and issues on both sides. I discuss politics with my circle of friends and family and almost all of us have decided that we will sit out the state elections. Let me tell you why.

In the last general  election, many of us voted for a Pakatan Harapan government but we ended up with a hybrid administration. We understand that we cannot always get exactly what we want and that we must compromise. In politics, compromise is inevitable. However, one has been cheated when one orders wagyu steak in a restaurant and instead get a plate of french fries, coleslaw and a sliver of teriyaki beef. We have been shortchanged but we will hold our noses to the putrid stench coming from Umno.

We voted for reforms. There have been three parliament sittings since the unity government was established. We have not seen one reform passed in parliament. Why? Where there is a will, there is a way. Maybe there is no will but just plenty of feet dragging. Still, we will be patient and see if someone we voted for is inspired to practise what he has preached.

Sosma is one of the laws that we voted for PH to abolish. That could have been done in the first sitting of parliament. Instead, Sosma is now invoked by the minister who, when he was in the opposition, used to condemn it. Now that he is the government, he is using it threaten us. What is this? I do not remember any prime minister or minister ever telling us that the police will be waiting for us at our doors. For it to come from a PKR minister is not just shocking but revealing. Yet, we stand quietly by and hope that he has just made an error of judgment.

DAP, despite having the most seats in the unity covernment, has become a voiceless and toothless party. Compromise is one thing but complicity is another. By remaining silent, it has become a rubber stamp for the government and is morphing into another MCA. So why should I feed this barkless puppy my vote? At least, MCA could and did work with businesses so that people like my husband and brothers could bank on good incomes and pay our taxes in return. This brings me to my final point.

The economy is getting worse. The prime minister and his economy minister keep telling us that there is no money and that they can’t keep their promise to reduce the price of fuel. We try to understand. But we also ask: Why it is that when the entire country was in lockdown during the MCO, the Perikatan Nasional government could spend billions of ringgit on programmes and subsidies to help us tide over? As I have said, where there is a will, there is a way. There seems to be no will or solutions but plenty of finger-pointing and excuses. My friends and family agree the unity governent has no real plan or strategy to do something about the economy and that really worries us. We cannot just remain quiet about this.

We can only conclude that we are being taken for granted. We have been lumped in with the Chinese urban vote bank that PH can depend on to vote blindly for it. 

We have had enough.

Let me say this to the prime minister and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke. We are not sheep. We are your educated urban voters who have given you two chances; one in 2018 and another in 2022. And you failed us both times. We gave you the country in 2022 but in 2023, we will give the states to the opposition and the so-called “green tsunami”. We want to be heard loud and clear.

I may be a drop in your ocean, but when enough drops dry up, you will not have a wave to sweep you to power. And you need to learn the lesson the hard way. Do not take me for granted. This educated urban Chinese housewife is not going to be cheated a third time. – August 4, 2023.

* Priscilla Chan 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.