They're dirtier than us

Here's a piece from Sin Chew Daily that expresses my sentiments perfectly:

Dirty tactics at by-election campaigns

By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by Soong Phui Jee

War clouds are gathering over Merliau and Kerdau and various ploys, including the creative and the silly ones, are being used during the current campaigning for the two state by-elections.

In Merlimau, leaflets written in Chinese accuse the Chinese of being traitors to the nation were distributed. Handbills with doctored photographs of three Pakatan Rakyat women members in explicit sexual poses are also distributed, making the by-election campaign a real immoral and dirty one.

The leaflets with racial slurs are meant to create racial hatred while the ones with "sexy Pakatan Rakyat woman members" handbills are used to discredit the alternative coalition leaders. Both the leaflets are unscrupulous election ploys. They should be condemned and immediately stopped.

In fact, politicians have become more and more blatant in manipulating racial issues to get votes. Racial slurs have even been used by some politicians as their "registered marks".

Also, some of the so-called rights groups are prone to resort to extreme measures by using the excuse of defending their racial groups' interests which have been threatened. Their leaders also make very inflammatory remarks and the demonstrated exclusion and hatred have reached an extremely dreadful point.

Meanwhile, moral discrediting practices in recent years have on the one hand demonised their political opponents and on the other hand moralised and sanctified themselves. They seem ridiculous and very shameful. However, they can meet the voyeuristic desires of some people and they carry also terrible destructions.

No one dares to come forward to admit that they are the manipulators behind the scene as such election ploys are indeed too dirty and shameful until they themselves have no guts to face them. Hence, we can hear something like underhand campaign tactics to woo voters. Both the ruling and alternative coalitions have their own weaknesses and the people can hardly tell who is good and who is evil.

The by-elections have turned out as political shows for spreading hatred and discrediting morality. It is undoubtedly the greatest tragedy of democracy.

Such a negative election culture is definitely a stumbling block to the progress of democracy. It must be eliminated. If the police cannot do anything about it and let the backstage manipulators do whatever they like and tear the society apart, I am afraid that the people would be disappointed and believe that politics is dirty.

Sin Chew Daily