LETTERS: As an octogenarian, I often say that politics is a dirty business, no longer a game. Billions in money and property become the enticement and are amassed or change hands in varying proportions.
An integral part of the electoral process is the tenor of election campaigns and the tactics parties and candidates use to attract support and secure votes.
An electoral process characterised by defamation and malice, which may extend to targeting the families of candidates, is among the reasons citizens whose talents and abilities could greatly benefit the country choose not to throw their hat in the political ring.
Moreover, mudslinging politics demoralises voters, particularly first-time voters, and can so imbue the process like a cancer that disenchanted voters opt out of participating in choosing a government.
People can no doubt point to accomplished fellow countrymen who were once politically active, but have since stepped away from frontline politics due to internal communalism and vile strategies by opponents, both aimed not only at thwarting one's chances for victory, but also at damaging a candidate's life beyond the polls.
If voters pay attention, there is much to be learnt about political leaders and candidates by assessing the depths they are willing to descend to capture or hold onto political power and the overarching access that power affords.
Most mudslinging politicians do not have a code of ethics, principles or guidelines to follow for honesty, integrity, transparency, responsibility or professionalism to serve the electorate, irrespective of their race or creed.
A party or political leader who is willing to do anything to win is likely to engage in similar abuses once elected, since at the core of good governance is an essential respect for the personhood of all individuals, a respect not adopted or supported by those more concerned with having power than in using power responsibly and ethically in the public interest.
We need to draw attention to the use of social media to publish slander and to promote what can be described as falsehoods over facts.
Undoubtedly, supporters of the incumbents in power and their opponents would argue that when it comes to mudslinging politics in past election cycles, they have no room to talk.
Nevertheless, the people need to talk about and realise what is happening in the country when it comes to the issue of mudslinging politics and attempts by all sides to distract voters from the critical issues facing the country.
If political parties see that the public in large measure is averse to nasty and deceptive campaigning and is prepared to punish parties and candidates at the polls for engaging in the same, incumbents and new candidates might be less likely to cross the line.
If the people fall asleep on their watch in this regard, it would be to their own detriment, since the public's silence gives tacit consent to present and future political candidates willing to embark on a quest for governance marked by how many people one pulls down, rather than the people of all walks of life one works to build up.
Mudslinging politics can also be a precursor to election violence, which is why voters must hold political parties and candidates accountable and free themselves and others of the notion that the end in seeking political power always justifies the means.
Voters must send a clear message to political parties and candidates that it will not be tolerated or rewarded. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: "The government you elect is the government you deserve."
VIPIN PATEL
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times