Steven Sim

An intense week of campaigning just ended for me…

I was on duty at the Teluk Wang polling district for the P44 Pmtng Pauh By-Election since about 8 am this morning. Some interesting observations:

1. Although there were waves of blue Barisan Nasional posters and flags everywhere, the presence of a single race Malay supporters in Arif Shah’s campaign shows that BN failed miserably as a multi-racial party. It was not a BN campaign, but an UMNO one. And its main partners, MIC, MCA and Gerakan were prominently missing from the crowd.

2. There was ONE Gerakan member in the UMNO crowd at Teluk Wang. Gerakan - Dulu Satu Hati, Sekarang Satu Orang (Then, One Heart, Now, One Person)

3. There were one or two MCA members there and we bumped into them at lunch in nearby Lunas (duck rice!). Guess what they told us! One of them walked to us and said, “Wo men ren zhai ma hua, xin zhai An Hua” (our persons are with MCA but our hearts are with Anwar)…

4. An old lady from the village at Teluk Wang, who cannot stand or walk insisted to go to the polling centre to vote…a few of us carried her into my car and the good policemen allowed me to drive into the polling centre to let her in.

5. By about 1pm or so, the crowd  began to cheer and jeer at one another from both sides of the road. One of the UMNO crowd actually shouted racist statements. The Malay friends from Pakatan were crying “perkauman!” back at them. Our friend CH led us most of the time to shout “Keluar Barisan, Masuk Pakatan” and “Pijak Barisan” while stepping on the lines on the road. Some of the UMNO crowds were doing funny lembu dance and all…I’ll try to get the video to post up.

6. YB Chong Eng arrived and led us in the cheer…we saw some Melaka-registered busses dropping off streams of youngsters. A lot of the UMNO youngsters were underaged, ranging from 13 to 17. I heard they get RM50 for that…

7. About 4pm plus, we went to Jalan Berapit polling centre. Lau Chek Tuan and his handful of gang were there. Again, there were some shouting matches. Lau’s team seemed to be silenced when CH led our side to counter-attack in cheers. By the time poll ended, Lau led his team out of the place with us cheering their going home. Chong Eng cried: Pulanglah demi negara ini (Go home for the sake of this country)…hahaha…and we shoke hands with Lau and his team as they walked passed us. I think this was cool…who knows, one day soon they will discard their vain struggle and join our camp.

8. By 6pm, Anwar came to the Jln Berapit polling centre with his wife, daughters and convoy. We greeted him with “Reformasi!” shouts and claps. It was electrifying.

9. I came home hopelessly exhausted and straightaway fell into my bed and dozed off from 7pm until about 10.30pm…Woke up to find out that Anwar has won with a bigger majority and my DAP comrades are celebrating in town. I chose to decline to go out…I sent a message to YB Chong Eng: “Tomorrow we’ll work harder to form the next Government”. and we will, because nothing can stop the Rakyat now. They wanted it loud and clear!

10. I am finally looking forward to the Merdeka at the end of this week. Perhaps this is really our second Merdeka…the next phase of our journey as a nation. 51 years ago, we were liberated from the colonists, today, we are liberated from racial politics of Barisan Nasional and the hegemony of UMNO. Merdeka!

11. If it’s Mederka, it’s nation building time. But now, we rest…

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank god almighty, we are free at last!”