It’s an exciting bewilderment to be in Malaysia right now. Today is the thirteenth election since independence with banners and bunting along streets, dangerously masking the corners of roads, flapping and flying in hot breezes amidst all the hot air from all the contesting major parties.
For some time now, rumours have abounded of ghost voters from Burma voting today. There is gossip concerning the long since deceased voting, people of one hundred years plus voting, children of four years old also voting, while armies of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are brought in especially to vote, and given permanent Identity cards (IC) allowing them to stay in Malaysia, where others have lived for twenty plus years and are still unable to gain permanent residency. The anecdotes seem to indicate that some would do anything to out vote the opposition collective, at this hotly contested election.
On the ebullient, yet quite inconsequential, Facebook people wag their indelibly blue-stained fingers as an indication of their loyalty, perhaps with a sense of job well done and here’s hoping for their future. Videos trashing the national front party, and videos praising them appear on YouTube, twits Twitter like mad and all expecting their voice to be The Voice to persuade others that their thinking is the right thinking in this very religious country. Social Media, digital enhancing and all the tricks of Photoshop and various video editors have been brought to bear from all sides of the Malaysian political spectrum to dissuade and to persuade.
There is no doubt that a lot of hokum, balderdash and a huge bullock cart full of bull’s dung has been spread over the lead up to these elections and, perhaps, it is not surprising considering the trouncing the stalwart government party received during the last election. It has been called the dirtiest election ever, well certainly in the fifty-six years since Malaysia has been holding elections. Past PMs have been rumoured to be pulling strings, while their one time deputy opposes and makes promises that remain un-kept since the last election.
Bags of rice, fistfuls of cash and free flights have all been rumoured to have been offered, and accepted, in lieu of favourable votes. Today’s reality is queuing, hours of queuing, diversions, incorrect information, spurious forms, unknowledgeable officials and indelible ink which washes off. The result remains to be seen, and whether Malaysia is the better for what transpires today.
Is Malaysia the new Burma, and heading for a masked dictatorship? Are we seeing the death throes of any form of democracy in Malaysia? It has been revealed that truck loads of foreign IC holders have indeed been escorted to polling stations around the country by Malaysian police officers, hoping to ensure a win (by sheer numbers) by Malaysia's rulers - the Barisan National/UMNO (United Malays National Organisation).
At the polling station we visited, in Puchong Intan (diamond), the official police were being, of course, officious as we waited in the hot sun in an orderly chaos. There was a purposeful bewilderment to the queuing with umbrellas of all descriptions shielding their holders from the midday sun. The queue edged forward 20 people at a time in a surprisingly sedate manner. There was a lot riding on the placing of votes, which no doubt subdued the voting mood.
While many pondered the result of them giving up their Sunday morning in the belief that they might change their homeland forever, there were still youths on pathetically small ‘C.C’ motorcycles who brazenly flew large flags belonging to the nationalist party behind them, as they weaved precariously down the road past the polling station. At the polling station we visited, there appeared to be no spurious Bangladeshi voters evident, despite recent fears. They turned up later, just as they did across this once free nation.
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