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ELECTION BATTLEGROUND: Barisan Nasional supporters adjusts the Umno 'rocket'. Campaigning is heating up as rival parties declare their intent to go all out this election. -- PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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FOR four years after graduating from a local college, Mr David Jeyaraj could not get a job, because he could not prove that he was a Malaysian.
Born in a rural area in Kedah and given away at birth, he was never registered and did not hold an identity card.
When he tried to get one, he ran into a brick wall.
'They had me going in circles. There was so much red tape, just trying to prove that I was born here,' he said.
A few months ago, everything was finally resolved. He got an IC, and found a job working in IT.
But some are calling the pushing through of his application, together with those of thousands of other stateless residents like him, part of the government's drive to sweeten the ground before the general election.
Since then, many other election goodies have been handed out. While the practice is not unique to this election, observers say that the current bout of generosity is the most extensive.
Said prominent Malaysian historian Khoo Kay Khim: 'It is clear they are doing more now. They make a point of announcing all sorts of projects in the lead up to the election.
'In the past, they tended to be quite focused on certain areas, now they doing it on a much larger scale.'
Indeed, announcements of multi-million-dollar schemes have been coming thick and fast in recent weeks, with many of them targeting the Indian and Chinese communities.
Two weeks ago, for example, some RM20 million (S$9 million) worth of grants were approved for the rebuilding and expansion of 23 Tamil schools around the country.
A week later, it was announced that Chinese schools would be getting the same amount.
In between the two announcements, more than 900 farmers squatting on state land were given 30-year-leases; RM7 million was set aside to develop the St Elizabeth School in Sibu, Sarawak and an RM300,000 grant was given to be shared by three schools in Sabah.
The government also said that it would put up RM500,000 to restore an 85-year-old Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur, and the same to spruce up a 191-year-old church in Penang.
In fact, online newspaper malaysiakini.com calculated that the Chinese and Indian communities alone had been promised RM125 million worth of goodies since December.
That is without taking into account intangibles such as declaring Thaipusam a holiday for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. All in, it adds up to quite a windfall for voters.
But some question whether the handouts will have the same impact on voters as they used to.
Opposition leaders say that the big issues such as corruption and racial marginalisation this time around may make the voters harder to sway.
Even Mr David, who benefited from the goodies, says that he is still 'undecided' about who will benefit from his new right to vote.
Lawyer and Indian activist S.P. Pathi goes further, saying that the goodies given to the Indian community actually highlight the problems it faces.
'That they are doing all these things now shows that the fundamentals have not been fulfilled,' he said.
'Our schools have been neglected for decades and the Indians cannot even get citizenship. The goodies will help negate some of the negative impact but I think our people are more aware these days.'
Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Syed Husin Ali agreed, but also criticised the practice.
'This is vote-buying. If you want to give allocations to schools or whatever, it should have been done all along, not squeezed all together at the same time before elections,' he said.
But the Umno Youth secretary-general, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, thinks otherwise, insisting that the government was only doing its job.
He would not be drawn on a discussion about the impact of the goodies, saying that they were not aimed at trying to sway voters.
'I don't think there's anything wrong with helping the people,' he said.
'We have announced bigger projects, multi-billion dollar developments at other times, but nobody said anything. Now we give a few million to Chinese and Tamil schools and there's all this talk.'
jeremyau@sph.com.sg
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