A recap - my 2008 Elections

The dust have not yet settled but then I am already late. So many bloggers have posted and commented on the Elections and its rather surprising results. But,I still want to write something.

I went polling at the Wangsa Maju constituency. It was a family affair, all 6 of us went to cast out votes at SM Setapak Indah. And as usual, only once in 4-5 years we meet our old Taman Ibukota friends and neighbours.

By 8pm, the whole family plus our neighbours were glued to the TV - we opted for RTM1 and occasionally TV Awani on Astro as our main news provider. TV3 was absolutely biased and the opinions were lopsided (well, now I know BN controls TV3). The panel of experts on TV1 were excellent and gave more factual instead of sentiment driven opinions.

I was also outsourcing information from the net, mainly Malaysiakini and Bernama(though Bernama news were very slow, I guess they have to verify before publishing anything). It was strange when news only trickled in by 9pm. Not a common phenomenon - I usually kept the score sheet on elections for the past 5 elections and usually by 9-10pm 50% of the results would have been in.

The scenario reminds me so much of the 1999 Elections where recount after recount forced the results to be so much delayed.

Anyway, after 2 am when only a handful of Selangor and Perak state seats have been announced I made the assumption that BN had most probably lost both states. By then Penang and Kedah was already under the Opposition.

I guess the Election results was a shocker. A shocker to the BN staunch supporters (I am sure my late grandfather would have had a heart attack if was still alive); a shocker to the Rakyat and even a shocker to the Opposition. Who would expect to be running for a state seat and the next day you are the candidate earmarked as the next MB? My guess is Khalid Ibrahim did not.

Barisan Nasional won only 140 Parlimen seats compared to 199 seats in the 2004 Elections. That is a deficit of 59 seats. Who would have anticipated that? It is such a huge blow to the party leaders.

However, looking at this year's Barisan's campaign I assumed that someone in Barisan had a feeling this would happen. Barisan went all out in the pre-elections campaign. Never before the media coverage was so biased, the masses were shoved with visuals of BN every 5 minutes - it reached a point that I was so irritated that I would have just voted for anyone else. And never before BArisan advertised on Yahoo, yup, not only my telly was invaded by the Barisan adverts even my PC too. And lastly, never before have I seen a candidate plaster her face on a huge (and I mean huge) billboard beside one of the most busy highways in Klang Valley in hopes to garner support. To me, that was an indication of desperation, I may be wrong but that was the impression me, a lay person had!

And now, two days after, everywhere it is so quiet. None of the usual celebration. Every one is quiet. For Barisan, there is nothing to say, the people have spoken. Now it is time to reflect, the masses were unhappy and they have voiced their dissatisfaction. Yes, Barisan is still the ruling party, but it they do not address the grievances and dissatisfactions of the people they may not be in power in the future. Barisan only won in their stronghold, places where if one puts a monkey to contest under the barisan flag it would most probably win. These places usually have the aged voters (the Saluran Dua keatas voters). Sooner or later these voters will not be there to support Barisan anymore.

As for the Opposition, it is my sincerest wish that they do the best for the people. Sometimes, it's easier to criticize when you are from the outside looking in. But when in power they might fall in the same trap. Money and power can do the most 'wonderful' things to the best of people.

It will be another 5 years to the next Election. To all who have won, this is a chance to show people that they have made the right choice. Those who lost, do some soul searching and reflection. And for the party leaders, show some balls and take responsibility of what have happened (this I dedicate to the leaders of UMNO, MIC, MCA...well, hats off to Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, that's a gentleman).

SOS.... what is happening?

Communication of up-to-date information in a time of disaster is very crucial. It is the upmost importance for those affected, the people who are helping them and also to relay the extent of the disaster to the outside world.

In the modern world of telecommunications, there are various medias available for transmission of information to the masses. Television, radio, internet are amongst the most commonly accessed by the people. The first to are more readily available and accessible to the common people and therefore, should be the main source of information distribution.

Where am I getting to with all this?

For the past week, many states in Malaysia have been affected by heavy rain and floods. The situation is not as usual, yearly there are floods during the monsoon but this year it has been heavier and more severe. In the Pahang state, at one point nearly 28000 people were displaced. Some areas, like Jerantut and Bera were totally cut off when the main roads went under water. The whole state was put under red-alert when the Metrological Department predicts more rain to come.

For the layman like me, this means ‘impending’ disaster (to some in the relief centres it is already a disaster). And for us who are stuck but not yet displaced, hour-by-hour information on the situation is really important but are we getting any? For such a large scale problem the distribution of relevant information is sorely lacking. Apart from the 5 to 10 minute news on the local channels broadcasted at the usual Prime Time News nothing else was communicated. Some higher authority may argue, go to the local Flood Disaster Command Centre to get your up to date information. Well, that is beside the point.

This country has been gearing up its people to become a developed nation. It prides itself in having successfully organized the Commonwealth Games, the CHOGM meetings etc. How can one nation become a developed nation if basic communication and information dispersion cannot be achieved? What happened to the national TV, the ‘Saluran Inforia Anda’? Maybe, they only strive to give accurate and updated Entertainment Information to the masses.

RTM’s Client Charter taken from its website said:

“We pledge to ensure the standard of broadcasting is of the highest quality, in line with the government's policies and aspirations, to cater to the varied tastes of the society through: Up to date information ;programmes that are informative and educational; high quality entertainment programmes and to instill good values”

The channels (including the private stations) should have contingency plans on methods of information dispersion when such a disaster occurs. One just needs to have a continuous information tab at the bottom of the screen to display the latest news. They can do it for the elections so why not for this? This is their social obligation. Stop talking crap about giving rice to people or entertaining orphans during hari raya. This is supposed to be their forte, and thus their responsibility to the people and the Nation.

But then, perhaps I got it all wrong. Perhaps, since this situation occurred in Kelantan, Pahang and Johor where most of the affected are neither well-to-do nor educated, then it is not worth reporting. I guess only if it happens in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur or Shah Alam where the educated, rich and powerful societies are residing then it warrants round the clock up-to-date information.

Looking just at this aspect, are we on the right track to becoming a developed nation?