Malaysian government is denying Basic Human Rights needs

If a country truly believes itself to be a representational democracy it should work very hard to make sure that every citizen who can legally vote is able to vote. Many countries around the world who identify as this form of government do indeed have their elections either on days when most businesses are closed, have national holidays so that most businesses will be closed, or offer a variety of ways that legal voting can happen.

Holding national elections on Sunday could be one way to solve the problems caused by people with jobs whose hours overlap the voting hours. How realistic is it to think that citizens will do their duty to vote and not go to work on Saturdays.

There would be very low voter turn out on Saturdays simply because people in general are still working on Saturdays. Most people would probably ignore the election and would go to work as it is not declared as a public holiday.

Ultimately a federal holiday for elections sends the strong message that the Malaysia is a representational democracy and not a plutocracy or corporatocracy where business is valued more than the citizen. So the question to answer, reader, is which do you want more? A government by the people, of the people and for the people or a government that bends to business and corporate desires?

The majority of companies allow two hours off for voting; it's been that way for years. Polls open early and close early. Goodness, this is not an every week obligation. Most poll locations are not based upon where the person lives or works, and there is always absentee.

Whatever the reasons one can turn up for voting, having a national "holiday" made of the day would increase the voters turnout.

If all the people registered to vote would vote, if all those eligible to vote would vote we could have a voice in our country. A day off would fix this lack of responsible citizenship.

In this "entitlement" society, we seem to take for granted that we are owed something. The government should be selfless rather than selfish, and declare Saturday March 8, 2008 a public holiday for every Malaysian to vote.