Prologue : Countless elections and 18 coups later, our near neighbours, Thailand have come to realise that it is better to have appointed reps rather than leave their destiny at the hands of voters who are susceptible to corruption – Paraphrasing Bunn Negara in Star, 5th September 2008
Imagine an election for the legislature of the People’s Republic of Roosters and Hens. 200 chickens are on the electoral list with another 200 not bothering to register at all as they had enough of chicken shit to deal with. On polling day, 120 strut out to cast their ballots giving a turnout of 60%. Returns show the Bullshit Numbskulls party garnering 70 of the cast ballots with the rest being bagged by the People’s Rogue party. In other words, 130 of the registered voters either wisely spent their morning pecking for corn or flew the coop in dastardly style to the other camp. Yet with, approximately 35% of the popular vote, the Bullshits can crow in delight as they cluck as a sizeable majority into the legislature while the Rogues with about 25% of the popular vote have to scratch around for worms and flap their wings in hope that certain members of the Bullshit caucus will scamper over once the dust settles down. In addition, throw in the unregistereds into the mix, then u have potentially 330 nays to 70 ayes for the new regime, a mind boggling ratio of almost 5 to 1.
To put it simply, a minority of votes is worth a sackfull of corn in this circus called democracy.
Moral : In democracy, the majority may be nothing more than a mirage of your imagination!
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