Today is the day where Malaysians go out and have their voices heard! This is the day where if you are not happy with how things have been, you make a change.

I have cast my vote. The process was relatively fast. Took me less than 10mins from the time I arrived at the polling station to the time I left the place. I was lucky my booth (more like classroom) was empty. I saw some booths that had quite a number of people queuing up outside.

I had wanted to write more about the 2008 General Election sometime earlier this week but I just couldn’t find the time, But here’s what I have to say about the 2008 General Elections.

Candidates
I won’t go into details about candidates all over the country but will just focus on mine - Kelana Jaya for Parliament Seat and Seri Setia for State Seat. Heck, I don’t think I want to even talk about the state seats. I have not really seen those two candidates in action. They don’t come off as impressive at all. As for Kelana Jaya, I was ‘lucky’ to have three candidates - Lee Hwa Beng for Barisan National, Loh Gwo Burne for Keadilan and Billi Lim running as an independant candidate.

Lim Hwa Beng was previously running in Subang Jaya. No introduction or explanation required. He’s been in newspapers, etc quite often. Loh Gwo Burne has also been in the news lately. You don’t know him?!? He’s the guy who taped Lingam la… Oh wait, Lingam said it looks like him, sounds like him, but might not be him (or something like that). Other than this Lingam thingy, I don’t think Gwo Burne’s being doing anything else (politically). He’s been so busy with his business that he’s got no time to even register himself as a voter. If he has no interest in politics, then what they heck is he doing running for Parliament seat? If he gets elected, will he actually be able to serve the people of Kelana Jaya? Or will it be business first, politics/ community second? I have once encountered a doctor who was also a politician (thank goodness he’s not running this year - what I heard is that there is in-fighting among the people in that party) who actually put politics first instead of his medical practice. I wonder if Gwo Burne’s even stayed in Kelana Jaya before.

Billi Lim (don’t you think he looks like Old Master Q? This is interesting (and that’s why he’s getting his own paragraph). I like his haircut. Oh good, he finally got his website updated. Yesterday it was still very crappy. From what I understand, he is a motivational speaker and the author of the book Dare To Fail. I guess Parliament can definitely do with some extra motivation and people like Bung can learn to speak better properly.

News flash: I just got an text message on my phone from +4540590097 saying “UNDILAH BARISAN NASIONAL UNTUK KITA SEMUA. SEMOGA SELAMAT AMAN DAN MAKMUR.” Does it mean if I don’t vote them, the country’s not going to be peaceful?!?

I wonder how many of the candidates have done community service? Or are the expecting a windfall when they become part of the government?

OPPOSITIONS
We do not have real oppositions. DAP? PAS? Keadilan? They only work together during election time. Plus, Khairy did raise an interesting question - If the oppositions win, who is their candidate for Prime Minister? I don’t really see anyone from the three parties that I would like to see as Malaysia’s future leader. If they are serious about being strong, form a new party.

CORRIDORS
I wonder why are all the corridors suddenly announced just before election? There have been many that says its too ambitious to have so many MEGA projects running almost simultaneously. If so, could it be that if Barisan Nasional do not get 2/3 majority, they can then say the projects can’t take off because oppositions are causing problems?

MY WISHES
I would like to see a party that is not based on race. I would like to see a party that fights for everyone - regardless of race or religion. I would like to see a party that is committed to developing our country and at the same time, care for the environment. Poverty does not only affect one race. Every Malaysian should have equal opportunity for health care, education, etc… Improve public transportation and reduce the number of cars on the road. It helps save reduce pollution and more importantly, our reliance on petrol. After all, only the rich can afford petrol guzzling cars, so why is the petrol subsidy used to benefit the rich who can afford such petrol guzzlers? I read somewhere that Malaysia will become a nett importer of petroleum in the next 5-10 years. When that time comes, what will be our country’s source of income? Proton?!? Don’t kid me…

Oh ya, would be nice to see more forward looking politicians. Most of our national plans, including election, seems so last minute. Speaking of last minute, how come the jokers who thought up the use of indelible inks never thought of the legal implications? Isn’t these the same people who should at least know some legal stuffs, especially when it comes to election-related legal issues?