ADOI Blog

Comments (5)

1. Jo, Lady of the night says:

   March 15, 2008 at 7:51 pm

   Dear Ham,

   I really cannot understand why the govt need to advertise so much for the election. Mostly because of $$$$$$$$$? The advertising isn’t teachin us how to vote.. It is about asking us to vote them… It is all bull shit to me. Cantonese saying “Sampat!” What’s the useful of the ads for electoral.. I mean for the govt?

   What I said about the govt electoral adveritisng is a WASTAGE. Come to think of it, that’s our money!!! That is one method for them to corrupt. Unless the ads are giving the guidelines to vote… Reducing the rates of unvalid votes. Who doesn’t know about BN, etc… Why the need of publicity? Are we willing to pay money for the info that we already know? That’s the nation’s money.

   Yes, I do mean the govt is stupid doing these ad campaigns. The radio, the tv, all the flags and brochures, even the bill boards. This will make people angrier than they already are having them to voice out, “You are using OUR money to tell US should vote for you… Are they being funny and stupid?!”

   Sincerely,
   Jo
2. Rumenian says:

   March 18, 2008 at 5:25 am

   Dear ham,

   I couldnt agree more on the subject ” Sampat” i believed that government has taken us for granted.By spending crucial amount of money just to spend in their politic agenda is such a big waste. Calculate the sum of 1 million ringgit , what kind of development that we can achieve?

   A better living for the orphan?
   A better improvements on Education subject?

   well from my opinion i guess they are desprate. they treat us like we are stupid citizen. Propaganda here and there by telling us to vote for them. its such a waste of money and sadly thats our hard earn money.

   So i hope they will learn a lesson the hard way. We aren’t stupid. stop taking advantage on the citizen and just do your freaking job task.

   Chiow
3. lionel says:

   March 19, 2008 at 2:45 am

   rumenian and jo (the night lady??!!),

   i guess if you do not understand the science of advertising you will never understand the whos’s and the why’s of it.

   you can bitch all and sundry about wastage, giving money to orphans??, better improvements on education subject? (rumenian could certainly benefit from this), the politicians obviously understand the power of advertising. you do too and thats why you follow this blog.

   now plain and simple, and I’ll try to do this s l o w l y,

   if you don’t subscribe to the party and its ideals,

   then you don’t bloody vote for it.

   that’s the choice your brain allows you.

   so rumenian, if you think you are a stupid citizen (as you put it) then i guess we know who you voted for. If you’re not, then i guess you had a choice. But don’t blame the politicians for believing in the work that we do. Otherwise we are bloody wasting our time.

   I’ll look forward to exchanging views again in 4 years time,

   lionel
4. Alee says:

   March 19, 2008 at 4:53 am

   Dear Mr Singh,

   I am sure you witness a very satisfactory voting process at the voting center you were stationed at. The process at the center maybe was free and fair. However, the election conducted by the Barisan Nasional and the Election Commission was far from free nor fair. An election is not just about voting. It is about the whole process.

   The BN monopolised the mass media. Television, radio and the major newspapers are all owned or controlled by BN (by the way, any paper that does not toe the line will have their license terminated as it is a annual permit). Opposition parties had no access to them at all. They have no way to counter the propaganda and lies broadcasted and printed by the mass media.

   The oppositions’ well attended ‘ceramahs’ in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kelantan etc were not reported and overwhelming majority of the voters in Sabah and Sarawak were not aware of the kind of receptions the opposition were getting. If they were I am sure the two states’ results would have been very different and BN may now be the new opposition in Parliament.

   The issues of transparency in the voters list is a contentious matter. The misuse and abuse of the postal votes is another issue that is well known. The lack of transparency of the Election Commission and its failure to address the issue after all these years is a damning indictment of the body. Its chief is there to assist in the BN in maintaining the unfair process. The Badawi govertment’s extension of the chief’s term is a slap in the face of the people and it was this kind of contempt that has caused the voters to say “enough is enough” at the ballot boxes. The opposition has won not because it was a free and fair election, it won despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them.

   Dear Mr Singh, I hope you can see the bigger picture. You experience at the voting center is the micro view of the election.

   yours sincerely
   alee
5. JJ says:

   March 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm

   I don’t believe that if our fellow citizens in Sabah and Sarawak knows about the kind of reception that the then opposition parties are getting, that they will go out and vote opposition. When confronted with such a scenario, there are 2 possible outcome, vote along with what one feels is the wind or vote against if one feels the swing may be too great. In fact, if the big crowd at “opposition” ceramahs were published, the outcome of the election may indeed be different, especially with the non-voters and protest voters.

   So we are all speculating here. However, what is interesting to note is that in the peninsula, where the popular votes is split almost at 50% each for BN and BR, the breakdown of seats won are 85 and 80 for BN and BR respectively. That is a less than 10% difference which is quite good for a first past the post electoral system. It also means that all the gerrymandering did not benefit the ruling party this time.

   Instead of looking backwards and lament all that was wrong with our country and the system, let’s look ahead that now with a stronger voice in parliament, that there is better debate on issues with better decisions. For one, we’ll probably see better attendance in parliament (instead of the frequent lack of quorum where the bell had to be rung) and with that, I hope better debate instead of all the sexist and racist remarks made in parliament. Perhaps, the outcome of referring an MP to the privileges committee may not be a foregone conclusion anymore.

   Cheers,