Sunday, March 9, 2008

12th General Election - Pasir Mas 8th March 2008

D DAY

Rain started to fall as early as 7.30 am in Pasir Mas. An hour later it abated somewhat and I went to the polling center at the school near my home. Is the rain a 'hujan rahmat' or is it a way of Allah trying to tell us about something bad being done on his 'ummat'. Naahh who would believe such a thing possible.
On the way to the center I saw this banner.
Untuk mengundi kena lafaz niat ke?
The scene at the entrance to the voting center.


I registered to vote at the SPR table where about 6 personnel sitting at some tables with laptops hooked up to the internet. I got my chit indicating my stream and my serial number written on it.

The queue at stream two where I was to cast my vote was too long so I loiter around without casting may vote. I went out of the school compound and took some pictures of those party workers. After that I went home to check my blogsite.

The long queue at Saluran 2.


My son who had voted earlier told me to watch out that those people issuing the ballot paper will be writing my serial number on the ballot paper which will render my privacy absolute. If the serial number in my case 601 is written on my ballot paper then people will know whose ballot that is. This is the catch that they are doing on the voters. They do away with the printed serial number but they write the serial number on the ballot paper. So what is so difficult to check who vote for whom? Who says your privacy is guaranteed? LIARS.


When I finish this post I am going to go and vote and try to protest them from writing my serial number on the ballot paper and let us see how they will react. If they insist that they must write the number then I may have to opt not to vote or just merely submit a blank ballot paper. I am writing this BEFORE I cast my vote.


Meanwhile a neighbour told me that he received informations at the Kelar voting center that 200 unknown voters had casted their vote there. The way they are doing it, Kelantan may have a new government by tomorrow he said. I hope this isn't true.
Last night there was news about my old classmate being struck by someone from another party. My classmate was sent to the Pasir Mas hospital for treatment and the BN candidate Hanafi Mamat was shown visiting him at the ward. The attacker was made out to be from an opposition party. That was a blatant lie. What actually happened was my classmate negated on his earlier promise to pay his party worker for putting up his banner. He didn't pay the promised RM20 and instead paid the worker RM5. That incenced him so much that he went to look for my ex classmate and struck him with a piece of wood. The unfortunate thing was that this worker came in a car with the flag of PAS and thus the blame was put on the party.
Now I am going to cast my vote.
I will continue this post after I come back.
The time now is 11.55 am.


2 PM.


Just came back from casting my votes. The stream that I was allocated had a long queue and took me more than an hour to do it. On the way in I enquired from a party worker who informed me that they had lodged a protest with SPR about the writing of the serial number on the ballot papers. When my turn came they didnt write anything on my ballot papers so I can't have definite proof of the allegation of writing the serial number on the ballot paper.


While waiting for my turn I met my classmate and enquired about the incident. He jokingly told me that some budak-budak were playing with some wood and the wood hit him. Poor bloke hahahaha. Anyway it was irresponsible reporting by the TV media to put the blame on the party.


There was an incident at my polling station whereby a voter from KL found his name being marked as to have his ballot casted even though he hadn't. How could this have happened? I think a police report was made by one of the parties involved in the election.


My friend Tuan Haji Azmy Omar send me these pictures from his voting center at Sekolah Dato' Abduk Hamid 2 somewhere in town where he voted.



Tuan Haji Ibrahim Hussin standing in line to cast his vote.

The people on duty at the voting center. Those in yellow are the SPR staff. Dont mistake them for Bersih's members.

Below are some friends found by Tuan Haji Azmi at the center.


It is 6.00 PM now. The voting centre was closed an hour ago. The PAS side were confident of winning more votes for the KASA area while The BN people were confident of winning the State of Kelantan and form the next state government. Maybe they know something that the others like us don't know?

My neighbour was confident the BN were up to something and will be able to topple the current government in Kelantan. I guess they do since they have SPR to help them.

22 comments:

ZABS said...

Salam Zawi,
Saya pagi lagi dah pergi tadi. Sekarang rehat2 kat rumah sambil melayari alam siber... Tak sabar nak tunggu keputusan ni...

Pak Zawi said...

zabs,
Saya baru balik dari mengundi. Hujan dah berhenti di sini. Sama sama la kita menunggu keputusan. Adakah sebarang kejutan nanti? Suspense nya.

Unknown said...

Awie,

A litle correction,. It was at the SK Dato Hamid SATU, Pasir Mas. Well our friend Wan Zain should have clarfied of the incident. Luckily he suffered minor injuries.

The result of this 12th GE is, I suppose, eagerly waited by every one. Let us see whether the opposition do get what they are hoping for.

The results should be coming in after 20:00 hours.

Happy waiting!

Anonymous said...

Salam Pak Zawi,
I think we have problem with 3G broadband to-day.Anyway just finished my lunch'Bubur pedas Sarawak' and also just finish fulfil my democratic obligation at 11am wet morning.Just normal here no long Q at polling centre and even polling box(no taking picture allowed)yet to 50% fill in.So moment of truth tonight just relax take a cup of kopi tongkat ali watch TV.

Pak Zawi said...

Tuan Haji Azmie,
I will make the correction.
He should have clarified it but I think politicians are such they want to take advantage of any situation to suit their needs or hide their weaknesses.
Luckily they didnt use a bigger piece of wood which could have resulted in serious injury as it involved the head.
Of course this election is eagerly awaited as it will reflect whether people really support this PM as he claim or not. Hopefully he will back off if the votes showed otherwise. Anyway Malaysian politicians have skin as thick as cowhide and they wont mind sticking to power with the slimmest of margins.
Let us enjoy whatever result we will be served with as long as it is not achieved via cheating.

Pak Zawi said...

awang,
I am happy to note that no untoward things happened in Sarawak, unlike in Terengganu.
Lets enjoy looking at the result as they are released later.
Lets have a TV marathon tonite.

Unknown said...

Did you notice that there are holes on the ballot paper, something like braille ? Everyone saw it but no idea what it indicates.
For the Transport Claimt, remember someone commented at your blog ? I decided to make a try, so I phoned to register my self as an outstation. Today, everyone just like me have to go to pejabat perhubungan UMNO cawangan Kota Lama. Overthere, as usual the typical UMNO guy (big size and wearing black jacket) pretend like don't know anything and ask us to go back to the post for claimt. Somemore very berlagak ! Then everyone went back to their post. I did the same. Then someone there endorsed my paper and ask me to go to the office near Celcom building. What the fcuk ! At almost 1pm, so hot and so crowded and packed ! Everyone was grumbling as no money was brought over there yet, and they prevent people from entering the office by closing the door. I pity those people have to run around trying to get their claimt. Someone overheard that the percentage voting for BN is still very low, so they delay payment just in case they loose for Parlimen KB. I decided to mingle around with those people by talking with them. Most of them says they haven't cast their vote and will vote for PAS.They says this are typical bulshit by BN. haha.. I left happily even though I didn't get my claim as well. But I know kelantanese are smarter now, if not richer.. I left with a smile..

Pak Zawi said...

kbguy,
I don't know what the punched holes are but I doubt that they are braille numbers as the pins are fixed and not variable.
The claim for transport was a problem in Pasir Mas too. The claim was only released at 4 PM after so much anger by those who went to collect it. The problem was compounded by those who didnt register or registered but did not find their name on the list so were not paid.
Those who didn't vote yet resorted to go to PAS side and voted for them and get the claim paid. PAS gained from UMNO's too cautious attitude. PAS regard those who went to them are genuine supporters and not cheaters. If you were to go to the PAS office they would have paid you because they take your request in good faith and if you cheat them you have to answer to God as the money paid out were monies donated by their members. UMNO got their monies from projects such as PKFZ or comissions from purchases of Sukhois or subarines.
Now you know why you cannot trust the BN's people hahahahaha.

Rahman Hariri said...

Dear Zawi, I have heard about the travelling claim for Kelantan voters, but it seems that there was none for Terengganu voters. But I must say that I think election in Kelantan and Terengganu is more fun than those in KL.

My queue in Sura took me 45 mins to clear at least.

Unknown said...

Tuan Zawi, by now kamu sudah menang !! haha.. besok pagi belanja makan ?

Pak Zawi said...

Rahman,
No payment to outside voters from Terengganu? How sad. In Kelantan PAS is a better paymaster than the BN.
It took me a long time to vote too. It seems they put all their known BN symphatizers in stream 2, 3 and 4 so that they can gauge how many are considered their supporters. From there they can guess whether they are winning or losing.
It took me more than an hour in the queue to vote too.

Pak Zawi said...

kbguy,
Name your place and time for makan tomorrow. its on me. How about the new Ridel Hotel or Perdana Hotel for lunch? Call me if you are agreable.

Anonymous said...

Pak Zawi,
Are we likely to see a by-election in Permatang Pauh in the coming months?

Pak Zawi said...

yeappie,
Personally I wouldnt want to see DSAI replace his wife just like that. He can wait for anothe BN seat to be vacant and grab the seat that via a by election there. Then it will mean an increase in seat. It will be a waste of resources to vacate a seat just to give him a place. That is how I see it.
He can wait for Kepala Batas to be vacated by Pak Lah who will be stepping down soon, due to shame. With his going out we hope he will bring out his beloved SIL as well.

Unknown said...

Good Morning to the new Malaysia !

Pak Zawi said...

kbguy,
Good morning. Lets have coffee then lunch somewhere today.
Its a new Malaysia alright.

resident.wangsamaju said...

Zawi,

Enjoyed your posts- detailed account of what's happening on the spot over there on election day.

Pak Zawi said...

resident.wangsamaju,
Welcome to my humble site. I am honoured to have you here. If you enjoyed reading what I wrote, then thats the greatest reward for my effort.
Pasir Mas (Pengkalan Pasir in particular) was the scene of the last battle of 2005 by election where the BN candidate won by dubious means. This election has set right the result which no court of law will be able to do.
Thank you for visiting.

resident.wangsamaju said...

Hi zawi, it's refreshing to have your voice in blogs over in kl. The way you describe life over at your end makes me want to go there. Especially the food in your previous postings.

Btw- hello kbguy!

Pak Zawi said...

Resident.wangsamaju,
Congratulations for the new MP. Hopefully he will serve you better than the previous one. If he fails to deliver, well all knock him down hehehehe.
Kelantan (Kota bharu) is just a short 8 hrs drive away from KL or less tha an hours flight away. Do come and visit us to see the real Kelanatan and its food. You will be in for quite a surprise.
Kelantan will always welcome you.

resident.wangsamaju said...

Thanks, Zawi. We wanted him and we got him. Frankly, on the bigger picture, we want reform and change.
We just had a thanksgiving kenduri organized by the Wangsa Maju YB guest starring the Kota Damansara YB and Gombak YB.

Pak Zawi said...

RESIDENT.WANGSA
It definitely feels great to have a MP who will work for the people in his constituency. Hopefully the people in the government controlled department wont try to sabotage him bynot doing their job.
We sent a clear message to the current government that they have to mend their ways to please their master, the voters.