Vote for Tony in PJ Utara!

I'm not sure if our readers are aware, but Tony and I have taken care to keep politics out of this blog as much as possible. While we've been critical of government policies in the education arena, we've tried not to evaluate them on the basis of partisan stands. With the upcoming 12th Malaysian General Election, I thought that this would be a good time to make an exception. While I'm not stepping out to endorse any political party, I will step out to endorse Tony as the candidate that all our readers who are in the PJ Utara parliamentary constituency should vote for.

For those of you who are not yet aware, our country goes to the polls on March 8th, next Saturday, to vote in a new government. Tony Pua, who started this blog and invited my to co-blog with him, is running in the parliamentary constituency of PJ Utara where he is facing MCA incumbent Chew Mei Fun. Tony is standing as a DAP candidate.

I'm endorsing Tony as the candidate for PJU not just because he happens to be a friend and co-blogger. But I think that having a parliamentarian of Tony's background and knowledge will increasing the quality of debate in our otherwise rather sad parliament. I also think that it will be a bigger platform for him to raise issues concerning the quality of education in Malaysia. One of the most important roles of an MP, in my opinion, is to raise issues of national importance in parliament, which i think that Tony will excel in. One of the least important roles of an MP, is to make sure that the drains or longkangs are not clogged, a role which the incumbent MP, Chew Mei Fun, excels in. I would prefer my MP to excel in the former rather than the latter.

I'm sure that most of our readers who are PJU voters would vote for Tony but I would encourage you guys to do more. Volunteer to help out in his campaign, contribute funds, tell your friends and relatives who are also PJU voters to vote for him, go out and support him during his ceramahs. You can find out more details at Tony's website. Tony needs all the help he can get. He's up against an incumbent who won in 2004 with a 13,000 majority. He's up against an incumbent who has the support of the Star newspaper, a paper which many of the PJU readers read. He's up against the superior machinery of the incumbent regime.

Every vote counts. I only wish that I could have taken leave to come back home to Msia to cover the elections and lend Tony a helping hand. Vote Tony Pua!