Think hard before voting

WE will be heading for the ballot box soon to decide who will govern the country for the next five years.

But before we do that, we should all take a step back and look at what we were in the past, what we are today and where we want to be in the next five years and the future.

We need to analyse what is being promised to us against what will be delivered because we all know that not all the pledges in the political manifestos are achievable.

Accusations are being hurled by both sides at each other and I am sure there are a lot of Malaysians who are still wondering what to believe and what not to.

But which house does not have issues?

In a country like Malaysia which is multiracial, a small issue can be fanned into a major one by just a few people for their personal gain. This is because most of us tend to get emotional when someone brings up sensitive issues and we only look at it from the perspective that is being presented to us by others.

The problem with us is that we tend to trust others easily due to the perception these people have created. Most of the time, the person raising these issues will only tell us what they want us to hear and know. They reveal partial information while hiding the actual facts, which can lead to the misinterpretation of information.

So, we need to be more cautious and do our own fact-finding exercise before even accepting what is being fed to us.

One question that still boggles my mind is why some quarters are always trying to paint a negative picture of everything that is being implemented. Take, for instance, the recent law on fake news. Why is there concern over the implementation of this law?

My take is that if you do not spread lies or fake news, you have nothing to be worried or scared about. But if you have been spreading lies and fake news, you will definitely feel that this law is against you and you will try to find all kinds of faults with the system.

We will never know what is the real objective of the person who is raising the issue, as nobody knows what that person is actually thinking.

We should always take a step back and look at the issue in a holistic manner, and analyse all the facts and details rather than allowing our emotions to decide.

These emotions can turn into hatred and then, no matter what others say, we will always assume something is a lie or some coverup.

If the hatred is not kept in check, it not only will make us unhappy but will also affect everyone around us since we tend to speak negatively about everything we see or hear.

We can change governments as frequently as we want but nothing in the country will change until and unless we, the people, change our way of thinking and our attitude towards everything, and start taking responsibility for our own actions.

We tend to take things the way they are and assume someone will come along the way to solve our problems. And when this does not happen, we get upset, find fault in others and blame them for our own shortcomings.

As the saying goes, the grass always looks greener on the other side; as we have never put ourselves in the other person’s shoe, we will never know what the real situation is until we are in it – and most of the time it will be too late to react.

We should stop pointing fingers at others and hoping others will change for our betterment. The change must come from within ourselves. Until this happens, no matter what anyone else may say or do, we will only want to believe what we think will benefit us, be it right or wrong.

Remember, when we point one finger at another person, there are another three pointing back at us, telling us to look at ourselves first before even talking about others.