Hello, Malaysia :)
5th of May 2013 was a BIG day for you. You were on everyone's heart and mind :) We prayed for you, we prayed for your leaders, we prayed for your people. And we prayed, "God's will be done".
People were lining up as early as 7.00 am to cast their votes. I was there early as a Polling Agent and later on as a Counting Agent (PACA). I could see the excitement on everyone's faces, save a few who looked sleepy on a Sunday morning. When they opened the gates, people thronged into the polling centre.
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| Lines and lines early in the morning. |
It was my first time voting too. So before I served as a PACA, I went in to vote. We had to line up outside our specific saluran, mine was the 'young people' saluran. Lots of first time voters there :) I'm glad our young people see the importance to exercise their right to vote. I'm sure they love you very much, Malaysia. I saw my old school mates, neighbors, etc. people I grew up with. Malaysia, you are our home :') At 8.00 am, the voting began. We went in, voted and came out with blue index fingers :D
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| Inked! |
After voting, I was walking back to the Pondok Panas, an old aunty came up to me with a piece of paper and asked me where was S.M.K Taman S.E.A. We were in S.K. Taman Megah and she had walked here following the crowd of people. She wanted to vote. She loved you too, Malaysia :) I offered to send her to the school and struggled to carry conversations in Cantonese with her (haha). I hope that when I'm old and wrinkly, we would have made a difference in you, Malaysia. And that I would still love you very much even if it means I have to walk to the school or am lost and in need of a ride from a stranger. :) You are worth it.
My duties as a PACA started soon after I got back from sending the aunty. The SPR agents in the room I was in were helpful and kind. Repeating and slowing down when needed. My saluran had the middle aged group coming in. No trouble encountered there. I even found a lady with the same name as me - Wai Yan :D
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| reporting for duty :) |
Generally, people were excited and well-mannered in casting their votes. But there were some who were fussy and suspicious about things and they weren't very nice to the SPR agents :( I felt sorry and sad to see how blinded and misled some of us had become that we become hostile towards others - foreigners and fellow Malaysians. It's really the people in power who have been the ones manipulating these people we take it out on and that just creates an ugly picture. I'm sorry, Malaysia. I'm sorry we hurt one another.
Malaysia, I saw your people unite :) Even though I mentioned how misled some got, the people stood together to defend you. I heard stories and updates of how they didn't allow foreigners who were given IC's to cast their votes in certain places where they were being brought in. And that was out of love. It was sad to say, the only way :( This manipulation was really the doing of those in power but the people made their voice clear on the ground levels. We wanted this elections to be fair and clean.
It began to rain, heavily. I got off duty to have lunch and visited the flooded Barung Station. Michelle and I decided to build a "bridge" for the voters to walk to the agents. So we sourced for things. Got a wooden platform thing and some bricks and an uncle found some concrete slabs. And we made a "path" to the tables where people were to check their salurans.
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| They dubbed it "The Longkang" :P |
The clock struck 5.00 pm, the doors were closed and we were going to start counting. I felt sorry for the SPR agents who had been tirelessly working the whole day but they continued on - strong! The room was arranged and we started counting counting counting. As Counting Agents, we weren't allowed to touch the ballots, just observe. The SPR agents would show us the pieces of ballots and we would confirm which candidate got the vote. It was quite a long and tedious process but we were particular about it. If there was a missing piece at the end, they had to recount the whole stack again. After that, everything was tallied and recorded in specific forms - Borang 14 being the final one. This was to be the official number sent to the main meeting point where all was tallied. The boxes were sealed in front of our eyes and we signed on it, but what happens after that? I guess my saluran and area wasn't too bad in terms of funny and dirty business, the DAP candidates we represented (Tony Phua and Yeo Bee Yin) won by a landslide. We went back home after that, it was around 8.00 pm.
That night, Malaysians gathered together to follow the results. The mainstream media wasn't too encouraging for those of us who hoped for change. They only showed Sarawak and the many seats BN had won there. Then we moved to SS2, to hear the updates from DAP. It was exciting, you could see the huge gaps we were leading by. There were some falling behind, but we remained positive. We couldn't stay till the very end and decided to go back. I crashed on the bed the moment I got back, it had been a long day and the lack of sleep throughout the week was starting to take its toll on me. I went to bed hopeful for you, Malaysia. I hoped things would change :)
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| Together in anticipation. |
But the next morning, when I woke. Ernest sent me a text, "BN won Putrajaya by slight majority." *glass shattering* :| But how? Why? :( And so, I cried. I cried for you, Malaysia. It broke my heart. I went on Facebook and found many many saddened people. Black was overtaking the pictures and to show that I mourned too, I changed mine black too. There were many who began to voice out a lot of sensible and rational truths and it was amazing to see everyone encouraging one another to keep going on. A friend messaged me about the black picture and encouraged us to have a change of heart and to keep pressing on. He was right, how long were we going to mourn for? And what effect did it have? Some said "it's over", some said "democracy is dead", some lost hope in you. NO! It's NOT over, democracy is NOT dead, and hope is NOT lost. And Malaysia, I, for one, have not given up on you.
After a good cry and a talk with God about this whole thing. God reminded me that you belong to Him and He is sovereign and above all. He will avenge and punish the wicked. Light will shine in the darkness and good overcome evil. At the end of the day, truth and righteousness will stand. We have to keep trusting and persevering in Him. We need to keep praying and putting our faith into action. I have faith in God and in you, Malaysia. Change is happening.
We saw that the reason BN won was because they had hold in the rural areas of Sarawak and Sabah. We need to change that, we need to open the eyes and minds of these people and we cannot do that from afar. We saw the current corrupt conditions and we saw hope in change, but the people who had little access to information didn't and couldn't see that. Forgive us where we have segregated our brothers and sisters in East Malaysia, when we have been indifferent to them. Malaysia, we're going to change that.
Ernest came down that evening and we came up with this. More of his idea, I just helped here and there. We believe ubah has happened in our rakyat and will continue happening. Things cannot remain the way they were and we'll see how things go in the coming days. We will continue the fight against corruption and stand for justice and righteousness, not just when it nears the elections. Malaysia, ubah is still happening and will continue happening :) It's a new day with new hopes!
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| Continue! |
TETAP UBAH.
Our simple message to Malaysians:
:)
God bless Malaysia.
We love you!
