Malaysia's 13th General Election

Posted by : foongpc | Monday, May 6, 2013 | Published in

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I NEVER talk about politics in my blog. And that's despite me stating at the 'About Me' side bar on the right that I blog about anything.

But for this post, I shall just blog a little about Malaysia's 13th General Election that happened yesterday. Minus the photos. Yes, ALL words if you don't mind LOL!  Don't worry, I will make it short and simple.

I still remember voting in the last General Election 5 years ago. Same school. I was there at about 9.30am. Voted and left the school by 9.50am. Just 20 minutes! What a breeze!

Yesterday morning, I was at the school at about 10am. I was shocked to see long queues outside the school! Wow! It took me close to 2 hours (and a big deal of standing under the hot sun) to complete my voting obligation.

Is this a sign that Malaysians were more aware of their responsibilities as a voter? It is a good sign indeed, but still I hate the queuing part. But that's just me I guess. If Malaysians can queue for a free scoop of Baskin Robbins, they can surely queue up to vote.

This was the first election in Malaysia where the indelible ink was used to prevent people from voting more than once. The so called indelible ink that was reported by friends to come off easily surprisingly stuck to my finger and would not go away. Some people used Jif, others used Colgate, still others used Clorox. I used plain soap. Maybe that's why mine didn't fade away like the rest.

It rained later in the afternoon. I was wondering how many people would want to queue up under the rain. But my thoughts soon turned to Facebook which came alive with reports on non-Malaysians who were spotted voting. Non-Malaysians with fake identity cards. What a scam!

Then the results came. I was excited. But not for very long.

There were quite a lot of drama. First there were the recounts that seem to favour one party. Then mysterious ballot boxes appearing out of nowhere. Seriously?

And then to top it all off, there were the blackouts. Very convenient blackouts I must say.  The results miraculously changed after the blackouts. It was unbelievable!

By 12.45am (yes it was that late!) the Election Commision finally announced that Barisan Nasional had won 112 of the 222 elected seats, giving it a simple majority. Many felt cheated. I sure did.

And that's how the Malaysia's 13th General Election ended. I was disappointed. Not because Barisan Nasional won. Or Pakatan Rakyat lost. I was disappointed because there was simply no integrity in this election.