Demo = Democracy or Demonstration??

Somebody was asking again if demonstration necessarily needs to be done in order to send our message across instead of just putting our votes into the ballot boxes. Not being diplomatic but my answer is yes & no, depending how's the local political condition is. Yes, if the lawmakers & decision makers are not doing the necessary steps to rectify the worsening issues, which need to be addressed urgently. We cant afford to wait till end of parliamentary term each time to say no. No, if everybody (including the voters, incumbent & opposition parties) are politically matured enough to handle the situations in a democractic system.

Analysing the local scene, one of the tactics is to beat the drums to build up the momentum towards general elections. This is definitely one of the most important political tools to gain people's votes with the existence of so many govt's controlled challenges. Watch dramas like The West Wing, Commander in Chief etc to understand tis. U see, people have short memories actually. At the polling day, if no issues been highlighted earlier, basically people will decide based on happenings during poll campaigning period & not during the 5 years ruling term. Taking into accounts that all mainsteam medias are being controlled by ruling political parties, u can be assured of "controlled information" to the people during the period. Of cos, situation in 2008 proved that Internet has played a critical role in shifting the votes to the PR coalition. Still, mainstream medias' roles cannot be downplayed due to rural people still referring to mainsteam medias as source of information.

Lots of countries used demonstrations to great effects in changing the ruling governments. I dont need to mention more about the Arab Spring. At regional front Taiwan, Ma Ying Jeou's Kuomintang party used continous pressured demonstrations to force out Chen Shui Bian's Democratic Progressive govt, tainted by corruption. Remember how Suharto fell from his grace, back in 1998? Here, we have Bersih NGOs playing big parts to pressure the Election Committee to buck up. And then, Lynas issue, continued with AUKU university act, then the PTPN vs free education issue,  Kelantan oil royalty, Felda's FGV listing, Sabah's illegal immigrant issues & finally, the mother of em' all, summarising all issues into one HKR 112 last January 12th.

We have long way to go, comparing with USA or UK's 2 parties system where the democracy spirit is so much alive. Watch any of the Obama vs Romney debates & u will understand what I meant. I truly believe we will finally embrace true democracy one day. We may not live long enough to see it happens here but we are definitely taking steps to reach there NOW to ensure our grandchildrens & generations beyond witness it. This, needs supports from both political sides. Under the current situation, the current ruling BN government needs a heavy KO from the people & needs to be taken off for them to wake up from their slumber to initiate changes within themselves. Look at how Congress Party reflects & rise after being knocked out by BJP in India. LDP regained back the power in Japan in 2012 after ousted by DPJ years earlier.