I am going home to KL this weekend to vote for the first time in more than 30 years. While I have my fingers crossed as to who to vote for, I have also been looking for the profile of the candidates in my constituency through their respective party's websites.

But to my disappointment, these are not available. I understand some MPs belong to the new bees genre but that does not mean that their educational qualifications should be not available to the public. What, do they expect us to vote just based on their party's credentials or the wording 'Another BN project' on JKR signboards or perhaps mere photos in the mainstream newspapers showing them pointing a finger at clogged drains?

Political parties either assume that Malaysians have a short memory of the malaises that we go through in our everyday life as a result of the local authority's incompetency, or simply underestimate the intelligence of the people in reading the social development of the country.

Gone are the days where they expect us to believe the mainstream media in portraying Malaysia and its government as the best and only the best. Thanks to alternative media, we now have a more balanced representation of news and public opinion regarding the development in the country, which is crucial to Malaysians like me living overseas.

If indeed everything is just as awesome as reported in the conventional media, one cannot help but wonder why no politician cares to respond to the many complains and criticisms hurled at them by Malaysians.

When I vote, I need to know who I am voting for and not the party. If I am expected to mark my ballot based on a party's poster boy or the pestering SMS-es being circulated by some political parties as reported, I might as well draw a monkey face on the ballot paper as a statement of my humble political opinion.