Election Briefing

Warming Up

The 'warming up' for elections seems to have taken up most of my time this week. The Elecvtion Commission in sarawak is currently conducting an intensive training in anticipation of an early election. The exact date is still not known yet but the excitement amongst those who will be involved was evident when I attended the two days training at the Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan (MBKS) here. And there will be more to come as the training is done by constituencies. I picked up my documents and neccessary forms - including a form to request for postal vote - as I won't be able to go backto vote in my hometown as I will be on duty in Kuching.

Laws of Malaysia (Elections) and Election Guidelines

For those who attended the training, it was like going back to school again as those of us who will be the Presiding Officers (Ketua Tempat Mengundi) are required to have the nuts and bolts of the various amendments and election regulations in our brain. Any single mistake and non adherence to the rules and regulations can lead to protests from the candidates or political parties resulting in election petitions.

Official Secrets Forms

Everyone involved in the election machinery has to sign an Official Secrets Act form. With the technology that we have now, one cannot be telling everyone what is going on in the polling station - SMS, MMS - the polling booth will be handsphone free it seems, except for emergencies.

Mock election on stage- it was quite an experience

Everyone got to experience the 'real' situation


There were several 'mock elections' held to give the trainees a feel of the real election. Though I have been through a few State and Parliament elections, I can't help feeling nervous when it came to my turn - my hands were shaking when I was on stage - maybe it was due to the large number of audience and the watchful eyes of teh Election Commissions trainer scrutinising your every moves - and they were free to say out what mistakes you make. It would be interesting to share the election experience from the Presiding Officer's point of view. Let me check out the latest regulations first and find out if the 'experience' is bloggable. At the end of the day it is always fun.... provided you don't screw up that is.

Cartoon Controvesy

My friend Uchukeling has this latest issue all in his Blog. I could not follow up much on the fate of the Sarawak Tribune workers but I may catch up with a few buddies of mine there and see what options are given to them.

Update on Election Processes:

I thank Uchukeling for raising up a few queries on the election processes in his Blog. Most of those queries are catered for in the Election Commissions website:

The Acts and Regulations link has a lot of downloadable resources there to answer most of your questions e.g Postal Votes, Situations when elections may be delayed, postponed etc :)


Comments

Uchu Keling said…
The training doesn't include any throwing of chairs, punching here and there ka? What if the supporters create a scene and there's no enough armed personnel. Hehehehe just a thought of how worst it can be. And, what if the roof fall down (like the stadium in Sarikei).. or a big croc suddenly managed it way to the counting hall. Wa wa wa..
UK - Good Question and my answer is that the training does incorporate those 'scenarios'. And there are provisions in the election laws and guidelines to cater for every 'out of the ordinary' situation :) All the past lessons and cases in the previous elections explained to us as Returning and Presiding Officers. Its like reviewing a law case :)