I remember seeing all the campaign banners and posters with 2 or 3 different people all under 1 party. If there should only be 1 candidate for each party in each constituency (Thank goodness in my area there is no need to vote for DUN as well, otherwise lagilah pening) there should only be posters and banners of 2 persons representing a contesting party each around my area... but NO, the whole place is plastered with different faces but from the same parties... Am I supposed to really know who is the right person with these kind of confusing marketing techniques....
Fortunately, I calmed down and started thinking coherently, I thought of looking at the logo (actually, if the logos were as prominent as they were displayed in all the campaign posters, I would not have panicked). Finally I recognised the logo that I wanted to vote for (the colour scheme of the logo was definitely not as bright as they appear to be on the posters and banners) and went towards the voting booth wondering if I need to bring my own pen or pencil....
At the booth, attached to a white string is a pencil that looked like it has seen better days... For another moment I had the wild instinct to put a tick next to the party logo that I wanted to vote for because ticking is the norm in society for saying something is good right? But NO, we have to mark X for the party that we wanted to vote for, it's like logic terbalik, but thank goodness, I managed to curb my instinct before I do something stupid and marked a big X on the box next to the logo of the party that I wanted to vote for. Then I walked to the ballot box, and while trying to stuff in the ballot, I saw that many of the people before me has voted for the party that I voted for... so I guess it is reassuring after the ordeal I went through the last 1 minute or so...
Then Lo and I went for Pan Mee in KL (so much for the nasi lemak, come to think of it, I may never have a chance to eat that nasi lemak ever again despite still going past that stall every morning)and went to Bukit Bintang to buy a digital camera. I started to get a mild headache by that time and when we got home by 3 pm I went straight to bed thinking that I will wake in time to watch the counting of the votes like I have done almost at every election. No such luck, I actually slept until 8 am the next morning, sleep was dreamless and felt like I have just lost consciousness for a couple of hours and woke at 8 am the next morning... So things never go as we planned it, just like the results of the election as well.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Voting Day Part I
I always imagined for the past one month that on my 1st time voting day, I would wake up early and be at the polling station at 8 am to be done with voting before the queue starts and will be happily having breakfast of nasi lemak (there is one stall that operates opposite the school I am supposed to be voting at that I pass by every morning in the car but never got a chance to try).
In reality, I woke up groggy and disoriented because the night before I was at a bar opposite the KL Tower hosting a farewell dinner and drinks for a client after a long day of meeting and travelling between KL and Shah Alam. Got home at midnight with many glasses of beer in my stomach and God knows how many sticks of cigarettes as well....
I squinted at the alarm clock and noticed that it was already almost 10 am,... so much for my wake up early for the election thing. Then I had to announce very loudly that it is 10 am already before another voter snoozing away slowly got out of his dream state and got his eyes focused but still staring blankly at me....
Whilst Lo is in the shower, I ran straight to the internet and logged into a local newspaper and read up on the latest news... I was unfortunately, still undecided on who to vote for, of course my conversations with various taxi drivers in the city has convinced me that I should vote for a change, still I need to read the news to maintain an unbiased stand point (bloody hell, come to think of it, voting is a biased thing, what was I trying to achieve then?)
After the shower etc. and dressing to ensure that I look like a responsible malaysian citizen ie. tank top, cargo pants and selipar jepun with a bag slung across from the left shoulder to the right hip, we got into the car and arrived 5 minutes later near the school compound. Lo in his usual malaysian driving and parking style (lebih-lebih lagi since the 4 wheel drive) squeezed into a parking spot so small that he (yang kurus kering) need to get out at the passenger side... It (The voting)should be over in a matter of minutes, no point being too picky. By the way, there were many traffic cones allocated in the parking spots (at least 20 of them) so traffic jam jugalah that road because everyone is waiting for someone to get out of their parking space and when they do, they can't get out into the road... which is so silly...
Moving on, we walked into the main gate there was a long-long table with loads of people and computers and little pieces of paper (about the size of a square post it) with big numbers on them from stacks with 1 to 16 or so printed on them. I gave my I/C number, they did the check on the computer and gave me a piece of those paper with 15 printed on them and told me to go to a classroom marked 15. They were quite helpful, pointing the way and so on...
Both Lo and I were at the same classroom so I went in first, there were only 2 voting booths (tables with the aluminium thing covering it, looking like we should be cooking maggi mee there rather than voting) at the end of the classroom and in the middle of the room there is 1 transparent box half full of ballots. At the other 3 sides of the classroom, long tables were set all along the walls again as 6 to 8 people are working mostly checking and cancelling your name as one of them calls out your name after getting your I/C and you move on nearer to the voting booths and another person will tear out a ballot and hand it to you and gesture that you should be going over to the voting booth after receiving your ballot. I din immediately go to the voting booth, I stared at the little ballot and saw that it is very plain without instructions written on it and since my mind was trained on looking for words, I saw that the names of the candidates were written there and at that very moment, I panicked because both names sounded alien to me....I don't remember who is who and don't think the person I wanted to vote for was here.......
In reality, I woke up groggy and disoriented because the night before I was at a bar opposite the KL Tower hosting a farewell dinner and drinks for a client after a long day of meeting and travelling between KL and Shah Alam. Got home at midnight with many glasses of beer in my stomach and God knows how many sticks of cigarettes as well....
I squinted at the alarm clock and noticed that it was already almost 10 am,... so much for my wake up early for the election thing. Then I had to announce very loudly that it is 10 am already before another voter snoozing away slowly got out of his dream state and got his eyes focused but still staring blankly at me....
Whilst Lo is in the shower, I ran straight to the internet and logged into a local newspaper and read up on the latest news... I was unfortunately, still undecided on who to vote for, of course my conversations with various taxi drivers in the city has convinced me that I should vote for a change, still I need to read the news to maintain an unbiased stand point (bloody hell, come to think of it, voting is a biased thing, what was I trying to achieve then?)
After the shower etc. and dressing to ensure that I look like a responsible malaysian citizen ie. tank top, cargo pants and selipar jepun with a bag slung across from the left shoulder to the right hip, we got into the car and arrived 5 minutes later near the school compound. Lo in his usual malaysian driving and parking style (lebih-lebih lagi since the 4 wheel drive) squeezed into a parking spot so small that he (yang kurus kering) need to get out at the passenger side... It (The voting)should be over in a matter of minutes, no point being too picky. By the way, there were many traffic cones allocated in the parking spots (at least 20 of them) so traffic jam jugalah that road because everyone is waiting for someone to get out of their parking space and when they do, they can't get out into the road... which is so silly...
Moving on, we walked into the main gate there was a long-long table with loads of people and computers and little pieces of paper (about the size of a square post it) with big numbers on them from stacks with 1 to 16 or so printed on them. I gave my I/C number, they did the check on the computer and gave me a piece of those paper with 15 printed on them and told me to go to a classroom marked 15. They were quite helpful, pointing the way and so on...
Both Lo and I were at the same classroom so I went in first, there were only 2 voting booths (tables with the aluminium thing covering it, looking like we should be cooking maggi mee there rather than voting) at the end of the classroom and in the middle of the room there is 1 transparent box half full of ballots. At the other 3 sides of the classroom, long tables were set all along the walls again as 6 to 8 people are working mostly checking and cancelling your name as one of them calls out your name after getting your I/C and you move on nearer to the voting booths and another person will tear out a ballot and hand it to you and gesture that you should be going over to the voting booth after receiving your ballot. I din immediately go to the voting booth, I stared at the little ballot and saw that it is very plain without instructions written on it and since my mind was trained on looking for words, I saw that the names of the candidates were written there and at that very moment, I panicked because both names sounded alien to me....I don't remember who is who and don't think the person I wanted to vote for was here.......
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