This is the moment we have been waiting for. I have already cast my ballot, have you? It was peaceful and orderly at the polling booth. I could see dedicated volunteers and officials.
But I think the Election Commission must be allergic to ink – especially the indelible variety. Instead of a ball-point pen, they provide you with a pencil in the polling booth.
Last night, a human rights activist said something that struck me: “Polling day is like a sacred day. I can feel the aura of quietness inside the polling centre, in the classroom. It is something yang murni.”
Yes, it is a sacred day. And we have a heavy responsibility to make the right choice while exorcising any would-be phantoms.
There is an air of expectation.
I met one of my neighbours, an elderly Chinese Malaysian, this morning as he and his family were returning home after they had voted.
“How did it go?” I asked him.
He hesitated a moment, and then said solemnly, “There’s a strong wind blowing.”
Yes, the winds of change are blowing. Will they be enough to blow away the phantoms, though? That’s not even considering the postal ballots, over which hang many question marks.
Do the right thing and vote for Malaysia. Vote for democracy, vote for justice and reforms. Share with me your polling day impressions below, won’t you?
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iiiiiiiihaaaaaaa!!!….habislah BN kita…….we have new ministers soon…….bye2 all the blogger haters……who say we bloggers can’t change the world?
I was the station master for a local chinese primary school at tanjong bungah. I have been doing this for the opposition for almost2 elections. However, this school seems to be always on BN’s side. I decided for this time round, I will leave the counting to my buddies. When I got back the papers , the verdict was almost 3 to 1 margin for both state and parliament. I suddenly realized the win is blowing ….
I write from Sydney following the greatest day for Malaysia since 31st Aug 1957! I thank God the dawn of a new era, a new generation to reinvent Malaysia and restore its integrity that was eroded by people who do not love our beloved nation.
To the opposition, congratulations. However, let it be reminded that we the people of Malaysia will cast our votes wisely again if the elected representatives do not respond to the voice of People Power. For the first time, the People of Malaysia have let known their sentiments. Bangsa Malaysia won at the end. End corruption and restore integrity and restore Malaysia! Amen.
This is our second Merdeka!
Merdeka! Merdeka!Merdeka! Merdeka!Merdeka! Merdeka!Merdeka!
God bless MALAYSIA!!!!
For the first time for many years, I feel PROUD to be a Malaysian, living in a land where we can be treated equally despite our race or faith. We want our children to grow up under a government which upholds justice, equity & integrity.
My wife and I cast our votes at the SMK Taman Cuepacs, Cheras KL. On this day, we become colour-blind: we only see green. After that I sms-ed friends that I voted for OBAMA who champions CHANGE.
I spent 9 hours in the sun soacked breezy open, and it was a humbling and edifying experience at this age of 54 for me. Many of the voters who came were noticeably poor Indians and certainly too not the wealthy Malays. But they all gave me the thumbs up and never failed to smile – indicating some kind of signal, as I tried to lend moral support to the volunteers of the opposition parties’ help the old to walk up the steep slope to the polling station.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES:
(1) EC should never place polling centres atop such steep slopes.
(2) Hired cars with BN stickers and flags were more intersted in making more trips than the welfare or handicap of their passengers as they were ever so quick to drop voters- young and old, at the bottom of the slope when they could have taken them all the way to the top; and keeping voters waiting endlessly for their return trip.
(3) The paid ‘volunteers’ of BN were more interested in the jackets, caps and cash and meals while the opposition volunteers even forgot that they had not eaten untill a compassionate woman came with some packets of home cooked, simple rice and ikan kering for lunch. And even then, each volunteer was insisting that others eat first for fear that there would not be enough to for all.
(4) Many of the BN hired help were more absorbed in their own worlds of conversations, while the opposition party volunteers welcomed every single arrival with the same enthusiasm and care.
(5) At the heights of the noon temperature, the BN-help took shelter under trees away from the road leading to the polling station while the opposition volunteers stood to their posts to do their social duty, maintaining that after all this is once in five years and it is for the love of nation and rakyat.
I can now understand better the landslide victory of opposition parties. Are the BN leaders willing to learn too?
I just come to the US after spending the last 10 years back in KL. I am so happy to see Jeyakumar having won against Samy. His time has come. Now we need to useat Najib and reign in corruption at the top. Having a first hand view of US politics, I am proud to say that I am much more optimistic about the state of Malaysian democracy now than the state of US democracy under the Bush regime. We’ve come a long way towards a vibrant and thinking society!
I voted in Bandar Sri Damansara and was at Sivarasa’s bilik gerakan in the evening/nite to have the first hand view of the results as they were coming in. I’m proud to say that majority of voters in Sri Damansara utara and Sri Damansara Selatan voted for Sivarasa.
My cousin and I were relief team of counting/polling agents for Sivarasa(parliament Subang). After casting our votes at our respective constituencies in the morning, we reported to his bilik gerakan in Kota Damansara at 11.00AM. We were talking to Irene Fernanadez and the others there when a PAS member walked in asking for flags and stickers and asked us to come help out at the “pondok panas” at Kota Damansara in front of the polling station for DUN Dr.Nasir Hashim. We obliged and we jumped in to his Nissan Sunny and when we entered the road leading to the polling station it was dominated by a large crowd of Malay and Indian youth who were being paid (I was told)around RM150/= each to wear BN caps vests, flags, and shout and canvass for votes as the voters were walking in to the polling station. They were singing “Inilah Barisan Kita……”
We joined the smaller group of PKR/PAS pondok and a group of Indian youth who were holding PKR flags there. We joined them and shouted Makkal Sakthi and Power to the People. We were later joined by the local Indian “Taikor”, Reuben, who was flashingly dressed with long shoes and cowboy hat and helped organize the cheering. As the indian voters were coming in, we shouted Makkal Sakthi and they smiled or gave us the thumbs up.
I shouted to a chinese lady who was walking to the polling centre to “vote for change” and she shouted back “DEFINITELY!!”. A young chinese man with a big cross on his T-shirt came to our pondok to check his polling stream and I said to him Hallelujah brother, vote for change and he said “yes”.
Today marks the end of a long period of decline which started with Mahathir’s rise. That period peaked (or more accurately, plummeted) during Anwar’s arrest and trial in 1998. After today, we want to see Mahathir’s legacy purged. For that to happen, Anwar must start with a clean slate. He must renounce his past associations with corruption and racist policies. Malaysians want change – not just the driver of the vehicle, but a different vehicle and a different direction altogether. It is time for Malaysia to rebuild so that all its citizens may equally contribute towards a nation which can stake its claim to a meaningful role in the international community.