Campaign observations

If not for the occasional party flags fluttering by the roadside, I would be hard put to remember that there is a nationwide general election (GE15 or PRU15) going on right now. I mean, the campaigning is so lowkey, not only in Bukit Mertajam where I stay but my friends tell me that it is generally the same in other parts of Penang. There's really no excitement here. Everybody already expects the Pakatan Harapan party to sweep 11 of the 13 parliamentary seats at stake in Penang. And it's not like they will be winning these seats for the first time. No, they are simply defending their tenure although there may be some different faces in some of the seats. 

I see a lot of Barisan Nasional flags and banners in Bukit Mertajam and a reasonable number of Perikanan Perikatan Nasional flags too. But Pakatan Harapan flags? Only a handful, as far as I could see. Possibly outnumbered 50-1 by the other two parties combined. But it should be a foregone conclusion. Steven Sim, the incumbent Parliamentarian, should win hands down come polling day this Saturday. From his facebook page comes this explanation (the translation is mine, but not totally):

From the first day of PRU I've committed not to spend big money. This was my promise to the people. The money donated for the PRU campaign, I use as minimally as possible, the rest I make a fund to help the people 🤝🏻.

Every day I'm with the photocopying volunteer team to fold leaflets at the office. Yes, they're not printed in colour at any printing shop. We photocopy them in black and white, make as many as we use so that there is no wastage. It's JIT, just-in-time. The photocopier is efficient, economical and saves cost by more than 90% 👍🏻.

Our crooked T-shirts have become a hot item. We print them ourselves at the office and at home. These few days, friends everywhere had called to buy these T-shirts 😁. When I tell them the website jalanteruih.com they thought that they could buy it there, but we don't sell there either. Instead, we teach how to print the T-shirts ourselves 😅. Print for yourself, print with the kids at home, make it a family activity; we struggle for their generation. If you can still afford it, print the T-shirts for distribution to your friends 👍🏻. Two pieces or 10 pieces, it doesn't matter. We make them together and tomorrow we can proudly tell our grandchildren that this crooked T-shirt was a sign of the struggle of Malaysians during PRU15.

Politics is not the game of the rich. Politics is the struggle of the common people. This is our battlefield, let us make it happen. The most important thing is to walk first 🚶🏻.

By the way, I was contacted by a DAP representative to enquire whether I could help out as a volunteer during polling day as I had done so during the last two general elections. But alas, I told her that although the spirit was still willing, the flesh was not. I'm recovering from an injury to my leg and would like to recuperate as much as I can without reaggravating the pain in the joint again.