ELECTIONS - PART III

I met Chew Mei Fun the other day. She's the MP for Petaling Jaya (North), and she seems a fiesty, independent woman who knows what she wants and fights for what she believes. Residents in my area were having a dialogue with the police about how to lower crime in the area, and the local MP dropped by for awhile.

By "awhile", I mean relly "awhile". All of thirty minutes at the most. She did the following:

• Introduce herself and shake everybody's hand. (10 mins)
  
• Agree that crime is high in the PJ area and tell us that the police have too few resources. (5 mins)
  
• Explain that it's our duty to do our best to help the police by doing our part. Like getting to know our neighbour. And being observant. (5 mins)
  
• Explain that she has spearheaded a "Zero Crime Rate" campaign and booklets are available for free. She also said that she occasionally spoke in Parliament about this matter and she would like to think that she had some hand in the establishment of the Royal Commission for the police. (5 minutes)
  
• Finally, that she has another appointment and must leave now, before we could ask questions, so sorry, bye bye. (5 minutes)

Now, I'm registered to vote in a different constituency, so I actually have no choice whether I would vote for her or not. But, even if I did, the choice would be simple: give somebody else the chance.

For what she demonstrated that rainy night, in front of nearly a hundred residents, may have been leadership. And it may have been commitmment to the cause. But I don't think that she was representing us. Not once did we get a chance to provide feedback. The policemen that we talked to later were more amenable to listening to us.

Sure, she may have been in a hurry, but she could have just said what she needed in five minutes and then opened the floor to questions. But she didn't. Instead, she nagged us, lectured us, tried to educate us. I almost wanted to stand up and say, "So why aren't you fighting for more money for the police?". But my better angels were shouted down by the devils of self-consciousness.

On top of that she had the cheek (yes, I use that word instead of termacity, because its juvinility), the cheek to tell us that she had a hand in establishing the Royal Commission. So let's add to her habits of nagging and lecturing one of taking false credit.