An opinion on Malaysia’s endless election cycle, urging leaders to focus less on campaigning and more on governing as voters juggle everyday challenges.
BY now, Malaysians have become rather good at elections. We know what a manifesto looks like. We know the difference between a ceramah and a walkabout. We know that the closer polling day gets, the more politicians suddenly discover our neighbourhoods, our morning markets and our favourite kopitiams.
Today, as Johoreans head to the polls, I am reminded of one thing: we are not a country obsessed with elections; we are a country that never seems to stop preparing for the next one.
The funny thing is, elections no longer feel like special occasions; they feel like seasons. No sooner have the campaign banners come down than television pundits start dissecting the results.
Political analysts begin predicting what they mean for the next contest. Party leaders thank the voters, regroup, reshuffle and somehow, before we have even finished reading the post-mortems, someone is already asking, “So… what about the next election?”
As a journalist, I should probably admit that I am guilty too. The election files are barely archived before another folder appears on my desktop with a new state name.
Johor today. Another state tomorrow. Then, inevitably, conversations drift towards the next general election. It is almost as though Malaysian politics doesn’t believe in an off-season.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to figure out far less dramatic things. Can I stretch this tank of petrol until payday? Why has the price of one vegetable decided to audition for the luxury goods market?
Will my washing machine survive another year or has it finally decided to retire without giving notice? These are the pressing “national” issues in my house.
Yet every few months, our attention is gently hijacked by campaign speeches, colourful flags fluttering along roadsides and WhatsApp messages from relatives who suddenly become election experts overnight.
You know the ones. The same uncle who still needs help attaching a photo to an email somehow has detailed projections on voter swings and marginal seats.
The cousin who hasn’t replied to the family group for six months suddenly emerges with a five-page political analysis copied from somewhere on the internet.
Even the auntie who normally only sends “Good Morning” messages with glittering roses is suddenly forwarding constitutional opinions before breakfast.
Election season truly brings out hidden talents. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a complaint about voting; it is one of the greatest privileges we have. It is how democracy speaks, and every election is an opportunity for people to decide who should represent them.
The problem isn’t the ballot box. It is that we sometimes seem unable to leave campaign mode behind. The moment one election ends, the conversation shifts almost immediately to the next one.
Who gained momentum? Who is losing ground? Who is positioning themselves? Who is quietly planning their next move?
It is like binge-watching a television series where every season finale ends with a cliffhanger designed to keep you waiting for the next episode.
Except this series never really takes a break.
Perhaps that is why ordinary Malaysians often sound less interested in political manoeuvres these days. Not because they have stopped caring but because life insists on getting in the way. School fees don’t pause for election campaigns. Housing loans don’t wait until after polling day.
Children still need tuition. Parents still need medical appointments. Traffic on the Federal Highway doesn’t suddenly become friendlier because there is an election. Life, rather inconveniently, carries on. Maybe that is why many Malaysians have become remarkably practical.
We will vote. We will fulfil our responsibility. We will discuss the results over teh tarik. Then, by Monday morning, we will be back to worrying about deadlines, grocery lists, overflowing laundry baskets and why the office pantry has once again run out of coffee.
Perhaps we are more alike than politics sometimes suggests. Most of us are not waking up wondering about political strategy. We are wondering if it will rain before we manage to bring the clothes in. We are wondering whether the children’s school bus is running late. We are wondering how a family of four can spend so much on groceries and still come home wondering what is for dinner.
Maybe politicians can take comfort in that – the campaign matters, the election matters but eventually, governing matters even more. Because while elections decide who gets the job, governing is what improves the lives of the people who handed them that job in the first place.
As Johoreans cast their votes today, perhaps the rest of us can wish for something rather simple – not fewer elections, not less democracy; just a little more time between campaigns for everyone to get on with what they were elected to do.
And for the rest of us? A little more time to argue about the really important Malaysian issues. Like whether nasi lemak tastes better wrapped in banana leaf, why every supermarket trolley insists on having one stubborn wheel and whether our WhatsApp family group can please go back to sharing food photos instead of political essays. Now that would be something worth campaigning for.
Hashini Kavishtri Kannan is the assistant news editor at theSun.
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