Malaysia General Election 14 - Part II

Postal vote method for the 14th Malaysian General Election

So you asked why hard earned victory? That is because of all the above (from Part I) and the workings of the Election Commission of Malaysia. Now this commission is in charged of everything to do with the voting process. And in order for any government ruling party or even the opposition to have a fair chance in obtaining votes from the people, maps and boundaries have to be worked out and drawn. This is the most crucial step. However, we've seen maps/boundaries drawn up unfairly throughout the years, thus giving the ousted Barisan National an advantage. Learn more here. 

During the last election in 2013, saw us Malaysians residing overseas voting for the first time. This was not the case before. Learn more here. I was voting for the very first time in 2013, after having more understanding about the on goings in Malaysian politics, how it affects our lives and having being registered as a voter a couple of years before. I cast my ballot paper at the High Commission office in Geneva. It was a smooth and rather easy process, from the online application, to mailing it, to approval and finally voting day either at the Malaysian embassy or Malaysian high commission of the country where we are currently based in.  

It was not the same experience again this time around. We have had to apply for a postal vote, wait for approval, wait for ballot paper to be mailed to us via courier services, cast our vote by mailing it back to the Returning Officers also via the quickest way possible/courier services. Here, we were playing the waiting game. It was nerve wrecking and stressful to say the least!

Sample of our ballot papers. *Photo taken off the web belonging to local daily.

Now everyone in general knows that since our Earth is round, therefore there is the time and date difference in every part of the globe. However, this is not the case for our dear EC. If most of us receive our ballot paper on 4th May (queue May the 4th be with you!), therefore we would be able to mail them back in time to reach the office of Returning Officers by the 9th May, latest at 5p.m. of that day. As it was announced that 9th May as a public holiday, which courier company will be willing to do their deliveries on a public holiday? See how clever they are? BUT if we were to received our ballot papers on either 7th, 8th, 9th and even AFTER the election day, I doubt that we will be able to send it back in time via the courier method. BTW,  I received my papers via FedEx on the morning of 8th May. 

Mine..... So close and yet so far... 

Furthermore, we need a legally adult 21 year old Malaysian witness to sign our witness paper BEFORE we can even mail the ballot paper out! That's fine and dandy if that person live in a popular area like in a city/medium sized town, but how about those living in remote countries like Tibet, Libya, or some hard to reach towns on the outskirts? 

So in come a popular peoples movement via FB, the GE14 discussion group page. This group have some how band together and mobilised Malaysian individuals across the world to move things forward, no matter how last minute it was. We have people collecting from, sorting/organising ballot papers at different meeting points (parks, coffee shops, restaurants etc) and airports around the world. Bear in mind, as this was pretty much the last mile or a very last minute set up, volunteers still managed to connect the very chaotic dots together - which ballot paper goes to which "ballot runners" and to which airport/locality.

"Ballot runners", all volunteers are from all walks of life, be them airline crews/tourists/family members/friends/strangers flying back to Malaysia, or those already in Malaysia driving either alone or car pooling, some took buses, ride their motorcycles or take local flights just to make sure those ballots arrive in time to its respective constituency. Some of them were people who were flying back from overseas bought their air tickets at airport on the very last moment, either with their own funds or through last minute donations from fellow countrymen. Time was of the essence. And as we have learnt from previous voting experience, we want to make each vote count and not let the EC robbed us of our right to vote.

This GE 14 has taught me and pretty much every Malaysian something very crucial; the strength in our unity. I sincerely want to say a very BIG THANK YOU to everyone who have made  this election year of 2018, the year I am very proud of be called a Malaysian again. Together we have made the impossible, possible and a reality. Who knows what we can do or where we will be in the future with this strength. MALAYSIA BOLEH!! 

Malaysia General Election 14 - Part I

I'm still on cloud 9 from all the exhilaration from my home country's general election. Even after more than a week since the public announcement of the results in favour of the formerly opposition coalition party; Pakatan Harapan. 

Why this election was so important for us Malaysians? That is because our country have been governed by the same coalition party, Barisan National, for 61 years. This is considered to be one of "the longest ruling coalition in the democratic world" according to Wikipedia. Now I will not go into details about the history of Barisan National because it will take forever, will be too much drama and information hard to digest or comprehend. Even the hubster got confuse half way through as I was story telling it to him. Mind you, he comes from a republican country where their slogan is still "égalité, fraternité, liberté". 

I can however tell you about why we vote for a change. After a 61 year rule of the same coalition.  it is no wonder we need a change or a breathe of fresh air. Their divide and rule method no longer work for us since a long time ago. That is not amounting to the corruption running amok within the government, between government officials and private persons/businesses and the rampant abuse of power (media, justice system, election). 

People started to rebelled more against the system after the then Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, were sacked and later on imprisoned in 1998. Read more about the Reformasi movement here. That time I was unable to vote (not of a legal age to do so) and didn't understand what was happening - politics was far from my mind then. One has to understand, during those times the WWW was a pretty new thing to us. Not everyone had a computer back then, never mind an e-mail address! We sort of believed in what we read/watch/heard from the media, which in our case, controlled by the ruling government. Unlike the USA where freedom of speech was written in their constitution, we have our own "brand of freedom of speech/media" all courtesy of you know who. 

Further down the road, we also have Najib Razak, our ousted Prime Minister. This man is one heck of robber. I would like to think that he literally rose to power all due to his father, the late Abdul Razak Hussein. And because of our nature of "mengenang budi" (recalling a favour) and "mengenang jasa" (commemorate the services) of his late father (2nd Prime Minister from 1970 -1976), many political figures "closes one eye" (or both) to his discrepancies. Now when I look back, all I could think of was "WTH were our forefathers thinking putting him up in politics in the first place?!?!" and "I wished we had invented a time machine. I would have gladly given his father a condom!". 

But I digress for things won't have turned out to be in the people's favour if it was the other way. We wouldn't be savouring our hard earned victory now and cherished the meaning of "government of the people, by the people, and for the people". 

Part II will tell you why it is our hard earned victory.