Malaysia Votes

Election Duty

As I have blogged earlier, I was amongst the 12th General Election Operations Room Team members who went on duty a week before the election started. We functioned more or less like an oil company on stnadby just in case there was an oil spill. When that happens all channels of communication and information would be centralised in the 'Ops Room' and meeting facilities are always on standby 24 hours just in case the big guns want to drop by and have an emergency meeting. From the weather status to the ground activities and events, the Ops Room team has to be on the alert. Whatever it is supposed to be, it translates into 'work' for me on Saturday as Malaysia votes. Given a choice, after YB Encik Alex Linggi's won uncontested in Kapit, I would have wanted to spend more time with the family during the weekends but again duty calls for this is an important event for Malaysia and for the State of Sarawak. So I won't complain as I will also get to see a bird's eye view of elections in Sarawak from here.

Facilities for the Operation Room provides a bird's overview of the Election Process and Progress in Sarawak

Updating the latest infrmation we can get - be in from the television, the Internet or the faxes and calls we get from the various Suruhanjaya Pilhanraya, Returning Officers at the Polling Stations in Sarawak


At around 12 midnight our Right Honourable Chief Minister announced Sarawak's performance and final tally.

We compiled as much information as we can get to fulfill the role of an Operations Room so that anyone calling us will get the most accurate information

And the Winner Is.....

To cut the long story short, the Barisan Nasional formed the Government with a simple majority though it lost the states of Kelantan, Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor. Eveyone was trying to digest the results as many people came out with their analysis be it on television, newspaper articles or the radio. I won't want to drag on with my views as I am quite drained out actually. After the SCORE event, I was looking forward for a rest. This 12th General Election has got to be another form of reality television show - well it has the makings of a reality television shows like One in A Million or Akademi Fantasia as winners are decided by Malaysian voters. And you know la....when Malaysians vote, it will always be unpredictable or very predictable depending on who you are rooting for.

In Akademi Fantasia you will be entertained by the surprising twists

In One in A Million - your favourite candidate may be the winner or otherwise

But hey look....the Operations Room has to be opened again on Sunday as Sarawak has to wait on for the Hulu Rajang Parliamentary Constituency which was delayed due to an accident which caused the voting process to be postponed. Sometimes people are just too concerned with the political aspects reality shows. For those brave souls who worked with the Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya or Police or the people who manned the Operations Room or the voters themselves (and other countless souls minus the phantom voters la) - without them this democratic practice would not have been possible. So to the winners of the election no matter which side you belong to - do not disappoint your fans lest they discover that you can't really sing. In the meantime I am busy clearing my stuffs for my transfer. So my thoughts on the Election will have to wait a bit. Thanks all for your comments regarding my transfer. We will see how it looks from the new Office. To my comrades of seven wonderful years in the State Planning Unit - thank you all!