GE 13 ; Run up to election day.

April 3rd

Parliament dissolved.

April 9th

Election Commission announcement of two important dates.

Nomination date set on 20.4.13

Date of election set on 5.5.13

April 14th.

The scene at Bidor taken on the way back to KL.

April 18th.

Registrar of Societies did not recognise DAP CEC base on complains of party election  irregularities held last year end. This came just two days before nomination day and is deemed as a sabotage by the government.

April 19th

DAP joint announcement with their PKR partners. DAP will contest under PAS banner in Peninsula and PKR in East Malaysia.
Move was endorsed by supporters as seen all over the social media. Overnight, PAS logo was the rave with the public. The moon has rocket in it and  hornbill of various pose. The hornbill is the symbol of Ubah, the catchword for change.

April 20th

Nomination day. The hot seats were filled with supporters from both sides at the nomination centers.
Unthinkable happened. See pictures pelow at nomination day.

 Chinese embracing PAS logo openly.

 The coalition of PK, PAS and DAP in unison.

Malays have no qualms identifying with DAP's rocket.

April 26th.

Stephen called me from China. He was a bit worried about what he read, to him, he sees trouble brewing. I assured him this is not going to be a repeat of May 13th, 1969. Yes there are politicians trying to create the spark to riot, but there a lot more people seeing through the hidden agenda. The people from all races can see what the desperate politician is trying to do, win at all cost. I am confident that if trouble surface, there are enough sensible people to snuff it out. I have more confident with the people than with the politicians!

April 28th.

A ceramah at Sri Damansara constituency organised by PKR. It was held at Jalan Tanjung 13/1 in front of a row of shops just before Grand Union Convenience Store. The turnout was fantastic, the crowds were there by 8.00pm, despite the rain in late afternoon. It was still drizzling a bit when the ceramah started. The notable speakers were Hannah Yeah ( DAP ), Tian Chua, Elizabeth Wong, Sivarasa R all of PKR. They spoke until just past midnight and it rained in between, but the crowed all stayed until the end.

 The crowed already gathered there by 8.00pm.

 The crowed grew as the night progress.

 View from the shops.

 Hannah Yeoh took the stage at about 11.00pm

 Elll Wong is the representative for this constituency.

 Tian Chua lends his support.

 It was just past midnight by the time Parlimentarian Sivarasa gave his speech.

 The crowed stayed even when the rain came.

The ceramah clog up Jalan Perdana with cars parked by the roadside.

May 2nd.

 The street scene at Bentong.

 BN candidate for Bentong.

 Lunch with DAP candidate for  N7 Tras, Choong Siew Onn. 

 at Kuala Lipis.

another scene at Kuala Lipis. 

May 3rd 

 Barisan "presence" in Sri Damansara

The incumbents.

PKR's territory.

May 5th

 The queue at Saluran 6 at Sek Rendah Tmn. Megah, PJ.

 Valen, my camera person.

Inching my way in the line, after some 30 minutes.

 Happy to be by the door and next in turn.

 Verifying my particulars. All correct.

 Collecting my ballot paper and having my finger inked.

 After casting my vote.

The ink on the finger that indicates that I've voted.

 Leaving after the vote.

 Yes, I accompanied my dad to the voting center.

PJ Utara is represented by Tony Pua in Parliament, an Oxford Grad in Politics and Economics and has done a lot in the last terms in uncovering a lot of government corrupt practices. Yeo Bee Yin is standing for the Damansara Utama state seat. She has a Master in Advance Chemical Engineering from Cambridge and is from my hometown. I do not really know who the other candidates contesting in PJ Utara were and what credentials they posses.It's therefore a no secret who I will root for. For me, Tony and Yeo are the real deal.

In the afternoon, it was all over the social media with images and video of Bangladeshi coming in to vote bearing Malaysian ID. Some were stopped by the rakyat, but a lot were escorted into the voting centers by the uniform personnel despite objection from the people. These people came by busloads, all Banglas. How blatant can you get.
In the evening, when the counting is underway, there are still interference by the authorities. One notable one is the Lembah Pantai constituency. The popular Nurul  won by a majority of about 1,800. A recount was asked for and in the midst, vans accompanied by FRUs were trying to bring in more ballot boxes. The people power came to the fore and block the vans from entering. Tear gas were fired on them to no avail. An hour later, Nurul was declared the winner. This is the victory for the people in preventing a fraud.

As at 12.55 pm, the EC announced over TV that the ruling government have won 112 parliament seats out of 222 seats. The opposition won 58 seats. This simply means BN is the first past the post and earn the right to form the next government. This also means that PKR's ambition of taking over the government is not happening. The only avenue left is challenging the EC of numerous fraud committed during this election.

Posted by TKH on 5.5.13.

GE 13 ; View from the ground.

The most awaited announcement by all Malaysians finally came on April 3rd, 2013. The Malaysian Parliament was finally dissolved paving the way for the 13th General Election. The news came in the fastest possible way, SMS to the handphone on that afternoon. This was to be repeated throughout the whole afternoon and by evening, it becomes stale news.

This announcement ended  a year long speculation as to when it will take place. The ruling government under Najib had stretched the term to the maximum of 5 years. As far as I can recall, all other elections were held about a year before the full term. This time around, there was no suitable date that favours the government. And so Najib could only try and maximise his "stay" and in the process, look for some workable plan to upstage the opposition. What is it that makes this election so different from the rest ?

One have to look back to find the answer. And you need not look far, before you come to the historical date 8.3.2008. That was the date of the last election.No body foresaw what was coming, not the ruling party nor the opposition, andthe the result shock everybody. Out of 222  Parliament seat, the opposition took 82 and for the total state seats of 505, the opposition won 196. For the first time in the Malaysian election history, the Opposition control more than 1/3rd and in the process won in 5 states, Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. This had made everything possible. In the past, voters and all political parties had assumed that nothing can shake the National Alliance ( BN ) for it's tight control of almost everything, including the loyal support of the Malays. The non Malays had always lean to the far left, especially the urbanites, but the numbers have never been significant enough to be dominant. So what makes 2008 election different ? I can only put the credit to one particular guy, Anwar Ibrahim. He was sacked, unjustly accused of treason, jailed for immorality and whatever you name it. Having undergone all humiliation and torture whilst in jail, he was released by Abdullah Badawi, the then Prime Minister. He was instrumental in putting the opposition coalition together, his own Keadilan Party, DAP and PAS. Going by the total different idealogy of DAP and PAS, it is amazing that Anwar is able to have the two parties working side by side even though they at opposite ends most of the time. Anwar is the glue that bond the coalition. He together with the three parties is able to breakdown the notion that UMNO is Malay and Malay is UMNO. For the first time, there is a viable alternative for the Malays, and this certainly surfaced in the 2008 election.

Because of all that, the unthinkable is now possible. Before 2008, not a single soul in this country ever talks about Barisan loosing control of the the government. Now, everyone is hankering for a change in government. The rakyat is now aware that they can change things, they actually have the power. The people and the government are like a pyramid, the bottom forms the citizen and the top represents the government. It used to the top controls and has the power over the bottom. Now the people realised that it is them at the bottom that is holding up those at the top ! They have the power.

To the government, 2008 was a warning sign. Sadly, they ignore that omnipotent sign and have not only failed to govern, but seems to have gone from bad to worse. Corruption, arrogance, divide and rule played to the tilt using the race card, imposition of taxes that continue to burden the rakyat, high stake game of corruption that ends in murder, and essentially not improving the welfare of the people at large.

And so when the nomination date of 20th April, 2013, was later announced, the date was the beginning of the most vocal and highly charged public rallys Malaysia has ever seen. The government is seeing the writing on the wall. Every opposition rally before the nomination date has seen record attendance, full house wherever they go. DAP in particular charge for attendance and during the "ceramah" would also pass the hat around to raise election fund. Very often, these funds are encouraging, raising to hundreds of thousands in urban areas and tens of thousands in lesser towns. In contrast, the government "ceramahs" are full of goodies, neatly arranged tables, food, welcome cash, T shirts and banners supporting or "loving" the PM, pale by comparison in attendance. Most of the time, the attendance are made up of committees , government servants, party members and those obligated to attend.

The drama began two days before nomination day. DAP was suspended by the Register of Societies for irregularities during their party election last year end. This was a costly mistake by the government as the public could see the dirty game beginning. A day later, the Election Commission announced that DAP could still use their logo and register under their party name. Nobody is going to fall into that trap. The unthinkable happened. PAS came to the aid of DAP by allowing DAP to contest under the PAS party and work all night to sign all the DAP candidates under the PAS nomination form. The DAP also contested in East Malaysia under the PKR name. This action was supported by the public who were angered by the move of the Government. The good thing that came out of it is the chinese people are now carrying the PAS logo and vowed to support them ! This never happened before, thanks to the BN, whose plans clearly backfired.

This is an account of what I see and feel from the ground since nomination date. Like every PKR supporter, everyone can sense that there could be a change of government. For the first time, every citizen takes responsibility by going back to their constituency to vote. A lot of Malaysians residing overseas are waiting for this date to come back and vote. A lot of them flew back, from US, Australia, Europe, and nearby countries. Some of them got a shock when they landed at the airport to see so many foreign nationals at the airport. This is another blatant thing the government is doing, offering ciizens to muslim Bangladeshis, Myanmars, Indonesians, Filipinos in exchange for votes. They are flying them in from all over, mostly from East Malaysia to vote. This is not only fraud, this is treason to the highest degree.Cash is openly offered in exchange for vote. Those responsible for this will have to pay. The people are angry at what they see. The sentiments on the ground is very strong. Everyone wants now wants a change . If in the past, the attendance at ceramah does not necessarily translate to  votes, this time, it is not going to be the same. They attended the ceramah not for "entertainment" of BN bashing. They are angry and is showing support to get rid of a corrupted government. Every opposition ceramah last way until midnight and the crowed stayed all the way with them.

Tomorrow, is D Day ! Tomorrow, we will be out voting and wait for the results.WE will not let the government get away with what they have done to the country and to the people. Fifth of May is the date to remember. All the pent up feeling, the mistakes after mistakes by the government has riled up the people. The fence sitters have long jump into the opposition bandwagon. The sons of past UMNO leaders have openly spoken out on the past injustice of the government and revealed many conspiracies past and present. Many are beginning to see the ugly truth, the hidden agenda of the ruling elite. In other words, this election has caught fire and tomorrow is the gathering of the perfect storm.

This is written for posterity. Tomorrow is the day Malaysian makes history and it must be documented in my electronic journal.

Ubah.

Posted by TKH.
4.5.13 @ 12.00 am.