Refreshing piece in The Edge

For anyone who missed it, this piece in the Edge is a fresh breath of air after being swamped by the propaganda in the mainstream media during the election campaign.

It is written by P Gunasegaram, the group executive editor at The Edge. Well done, Gunasegaram.

Question Time: In the aftermath of elections
March 30, 2004 : 02.06 PM
By P Gunasegaram


Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not. - Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

The way you wield power, especially in adversity, says a lot about how principled you are. Are your principles so strong that you are prepared to stick to them at a cost to yourself or are you going to compromise them at the altar of that phrase which excuses many things: "the end justifies the means."

So, what's this got to do with elections? Everything. If you look at the way elections are conducted, it is not all that democratic, even if voting - under the one-man, one-vote system - is fair, barring the bungling by the Elections Commission.

Democracy implies that those who stand for elections will have a fair chance to give the electorate their point of view. When that fair chance is denied to any party, the process of democracy is hindered and the elections are that much less fair.

See the full article.

Nice to see The Edge taking a more critical perspective.