BN spent RM 1 million in three days on print advertisement

Thanks to the leadership of Transparency International and the hard work of its secretariat, we now have the figure of how much BN has spent on the print advertisement. For the last three days, the amount is RM 1.049 million.

Monitoring on TV advertisement will begin this evening.

No Pain, No Gain (full text)

The logic is really simple: no pain, no gain. No pain for the politicians, no gain for you. When you love them, they take your love for granted. But if you are hard to get, they will work harder to woo you.

Bloggers has forced the birth of “Barisan Rakyat”!

With six parties – PAS, PKR, DAP, MDP, PSM and Pasok – signing up to the People’s Declaration and promising a straight fight against BN, bloggers led by Haris Ibrahim has forced a declaration of the birth of “Barisan Rakyat” with the parties’ representatives giving a “passive/quiet” consent.

I could not make it. Here’s RPK’s report:

“The PEOPLE’S VOICE and the PEOPLE’S DECLARATION were officially launched today, 23 February 2008, at the Blog House in Bukit Damansara. Six political parties — DAP, PAS, PKR, MDP, PSM and Pasok — endorsed the Declaration and promised to adopt it as part of their 2008 Election Manifestos. They also announced that the election will be a straight fight between Barisan Nasional and Barisan Rakyat.”

Malaysiavotes.com: Keeping Close Watch

L-R: Dr Mustafa K Anuar(Charter 2000-Aliran coordinator), Gayathry Venkiteswaran (CIJ executive director), Wong Chin Huat (Wami chairman)

Keeping close watch

By Danny Lim (dannylim@malaysiavotes.com)

THREE days before polling day during the Ijok by-election in April 2007, an MCA state assemblyman, speaking on condition of anonymity, was worried about the Chinese vote.

“Those who stay here, no problem (in voting for the Barisan Nasional),” he said. “But their children… they go out (of Ijok), they hear all kinds of things.” This 20-30% of ‘floating’ Chinese voters working and living outside Ijok, he said, were exposed to alternative media, especially the internet.

Malaysian Elections on Youtube – 10 Clips to watch

Got this list of video clips from Kwong Liang through email. I haven’t watched most of them and they look interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBPBFtc310    ELECTIONS Blah blah blah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3hPp4MHkL8   Lingam’s Devil Curry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MpkKw9CSwY   Rough Little Indian Boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbgy7e3YloM   Check Three Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vEBfbEIxtM   The Voice of Democracy, Conscience of Parliament – DAP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuH9cvzyrb0   Just Change – DAP Campaign song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV7kMekWMiI   BN (Barang Naik): The Wave Of Price Hike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsbWbgvYyY0   Malaysians: Are you ready for the general election?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmxoN_BL-IM   How much do Malaysians spend?

Share your thoughts on them.

Cannot vote? You can still do many great things for the elections!

Missed the Boat? (photo: flickr.com)

If you have not yet registered as voters, cannot go back to your constituency to vote or do not think your vote will make a difference in your constituency, but you still want to do your part to clean-up politics at this once-in-five-years chance, here is the list of 14 civil society groups (in three categories) you may want to help out and six independent/alternative media you may want to support.

Can Overseas Students Register In Time To Vote?

Can overseas students register in time for to vote for this election? The answer may be a disappointing “no”. But the loss may be lesser than you think because there are many more important things you can do.

Marie Tan Kiak Li, a future political scientist at LSE, wrote an article on malaysiavotes.com on how the overseas students may do this. I have received emails dissimenating messages from my Essex junior Marcus.

I must first declare that I am not familiar with postal voting – as I did not have the chance to observe how it was done in 2004 – and I never voted on postal ballot (voted physically in Malaysia in 2004). My view below is solely based on my understanding of the by-laws and information obtained elsewhere in the past. Those of you who have voted on postal voting especially at Malaysian missions overseas please share your experience so we may all learn from you.

 

Wanted: An Imaginative Opposition (full text)

(photo: iht.com)

Can Malaysia have her own Obama someday?

Wanted: an imaginative opposition

 

By Wong Chin Huat[Updated at 11:15pm, 20 Feb 2008 with correction]

You think that enough is enough. After all the leakages, all the tapes, all the royal commissions, all the demonstrations, all the arrests, something must change. You feel that every patriotic person must vote for the opposition. You tell yourself that this is the first election of Malaysia’s next 50 years, and it must not be the same.

Politics must not be business as usual. You register yourself as a voter. You forward political messages to all the contacts in your phone. You surf political blogs. You attend political rallies. You even sign up to be a polling agent for the opposition or civil society candidate in your constituency.

You hope that the opposition will deny the Barisan Nasional (BN) a two-third majority. You secretly pray that they will even topple the BN in a few states if not also at the federal level.

You are anxiously looking forward to March 8, much like your first date many years ago.

One Exciting Election, Three Crazy People, One Great Start-up

(Photo: Merdekareview.com)

George Bernard Shaw also said this: “All progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”

Below are the words of the Malaysiavotes.com on why they get into this start-up.

Dear friends,

Some people think we’re mad. After staying up till the wee hours over the past week to set up this humble little project, and considering there will be more sleepless nights ahead, I’m inclined to agree. Still, as George Bernard Shaw once said: We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us! So, mad we are, and we’re gonna have fun while we are at it.

The three of us have launched an online news site to cover the ongoing 2008 general election called MalaysiaVotes.com.

It’s a free site that we hope can provide, in a small way, credible and independent news about the going-ons and issues in this general election.

Malaysiavotes.com to meet you at 10 am today (Feb 20)!

In 1999, the elections saw the entry of Malaysiakini, with a news team of 4 led by senior journalist Steven Gan.

In 2008, the elections will see the entry of Malaysiavotes.com, with three senior journalists – Jacqueline Ann Surin and Cindy Tham (formerly from the Sun and the Edge) and Danny Lim (formerly from Off-The-Edge). They will cover election news on mobile basis in battleground states like Penang, Perak, Kelantan and Klang Valley.

We should thank Vincent Tan for giving the final push for the journalists to get into this new venture.

Guest writers include this blogger.

It was up at 11am. Watch it!