By V. K. Chin

THERE is a lot of speculation at the moment on when the general election is to be held.

Though the present Government has less than a year to finish its term, all the political parties are campaigning actively in anticipation of the big polls battle ahead.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman, is having a good time teasing everybody whenever he is asked to comment on the big day.

So far, he has not given anything away and it is naive of the media to expect the PM to make such a major announcement at any impromptu press conference.

This will be done at the appropriate time and so it is better for the people to wait for it.

However the delay is a distraction as those involved are spending a lot of time campaigning.

Productivity is sure to be affected as many people are involved in preparing for this democratic exercise.

The timing of course will be decided by Dr Mahathir and he must feel confident that the situation will favour the Barisan before he is ready to seek a new mandate.

November seems to be the most popular for the event especially in the latter part of the month when the school holidays will begin.

The school holidays period is the best time for elections because many of the Barisan workers are teachers.

Many of the school facilities are also being used as polling centres which are convenient to the local voters who are naturally familiar with the locations of these premises.

What is of concern is that the delay will give some irresponsible quarters the opportunity to exploit sensitive issues which will not only divide the different communities but could lead to racial tensions as well.

There is no doubt that the present activities of the major parties are geared towards winning votes in the coming electoral contest.

Since general election is known as the silly season, some candidates will tend to raise issues which they would not normally do and with little regard to the consequences of their words or actions.

Some irresponsible groups are also trying to give the impression that the country is politically unstable by using every opportunity to demonstrate or make unsubstantiated allegations against the Government.

Though politicians have been warned not to raise sensitive issues, many of them are unlikely to heed such advice especially those desperate for votes.

It is also tough for the police to monitor all the speeches being made at the meet-the-people sessions which are held on a daily basis all over the country.

Once the elections are over, all activities aimed at winning votes at all cost will come to an abrupt end as there will be no reason for them to carry on with such speeches any longer.

Things should then quickly return to normal and the people can continue to carry on with their daily personal or business activities.

Hopefully, the insensitive remarks made during the campaign will not have any spill-over effect.

Looking at things in this perspective, the public would no doubt want the elections to be earlier rather than later in order to minimise the chances of any untoward incident from taking place.