Voting, is it really important?

Assalamualaikum and a very good day to everyone. Extremely sorry for not posting anything for quite sometimes now. I have been drafting this single post for two weeks now or to be exact from the day of election date for Malaysia’s General Election 14 (GE) was announced. This basically will be my first time voting, absolutely excited and nervous at the same time as the decision of mine will determine the future of the country. Every vote count. From that very day, I started noticing the talks around especially on GE. Some seems less interested in voting or to be exact less understand the impact it could bring to the country. I can say I truly understand and relate to that idea as not long ago my thought was exactly the same too until I join Debating class.

In my life, I could refer to Debating was an eye opener for many things in life maybe I could share that in another with you soon(I hope). At the beginning, I started Debating with not so much facts and information as I don’t read the news as much as I should. Slowly, I started picking the habit of googling latest news related to a motion and not so related to a motion and then realize that we have so much funds and help given to aid the growth of the country but it is nowhere to be seen. Feel a bit puzzled and wanted to know why it is not reaching who it suppose to be, well there is long chain it has to pass through and I asked myself another question “How to ensure the aid reaches the needy ?”. It means we must elect the right people to govern the country. From that moment, Voting Day become necessity for me and trying my level best to motivate others around me and understand the importance of their right.

According to Wikipedia, voting is a method for a group, such as, a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion, usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. This post intend to motivate people who don’t want to go for voting. This post will not tell you who you should vote for as ones vote is secret and choices of their own. The post also aims to educate user the impact of online fake news. If this could change just one person who didn’t want to go for voting to turn up for voting, it is huge success for me.

Last year, Fatihah Alwani, Dr Adamu AbuBakar and myself worked and presented on a research on “User Perception on the State of Online Fake News” where at the initial state of its research focuses on the impact on online fake news on the user. The user’s choices and state of mind is impacted by what they read online whether it is news or normal content. As internet user assumes everything they read online to be true or almost to be true. Internet becomes important platform of spreading news to people around the world. Newspaper and magazines still remain printed form of News, but it is gradually transforming into an online form. The main aim of news is to provide right information to the public. The online news are becoming more popular compared to the printed form. With the current technology, people have access to news by using online resources. Unfortunately, these online resources are a victim of fake news that are created by some parties. Fake news is known as hoax news, where misleading and bogus information get published under semblance of being reliable news. The credibility of online news is decreasing due to the widespread of fake news. The growth of Micro blogging sites emphasis the necessity to combat spreading of fake news. Even though many steps are taken to tackle the spread of fake news but tackling online fake news is not as easy as we think, eventually some news do slip away. The algorithm of social media is designed in a way that an user will be able to see everything that he/she is in favor of in good way and everything that he/she is anti of otherwise. Therefore, analyse each news you receive of its authenticity before making any decision or sharing with another. Besides being an informative person, do analyse it too. Another thing, any online survey will not be able to predict who will win the election and it needs your real vote. Therefore, don’t fall into trap of believing in such survey result. Cast your vote ppl that is going to determine it.

Go through the manifesto and vote for the person you feel that will help the growth of our beloved country. Emphasizing once again, every vote count and please do your part everyone. Thank you very very much 🙂