Lessons from IJOK

Hey! That place is not that far away from Rawang!

As usual, Ibu often write in retrospect... looking at things in hindsight.

And if there's one good lesson that's easy like counting 1-2-3 for ordinary citizen and hoi polloi like Ibu to grasp from the Ijok's by election, is that such "by-election" is a sure quickie to get your neighbourhood downtown's main street pot holes covered up with shiny tarmac overnight without the hassle of calling up the 'no one seem to be answering' icy cold hotline, without the need for writing complaint letters which you'd better make sure you make copies in case your follow up query is expectedly greeted with 'boleh fax kan sekali lagi ke Puan?' and without having to climb up and down the ladder of the local townhall to actually re-send the same letter and make sure that the 'oh-we-citizen-are-so-scared-of-you officers' to actually physically acknowledge receipt of the letter in person - and that if the 'person-in-charge' to ackowledge receipt is not outstation, or on leave or out for morning coffee ( but it's almost noon already?!!).

(breathe in....breathe out... breathe in ...breathe out).

Think - if this is the big election - the budget would have been too stretching. Too many pot holes to be covered within the same short span of time. But this was not. This was only a by-election. And Ijok had it all to herself this time.

Ijok - I'm not even sure if that name is mentioned for announcement of breakfasting time during Ramadhan, like some other names I learned from such announcement - Marudu & Kota Samarahan to name a few.

But hey!! A by-election it was, and so all focus gathered on one small constituency. Ijok suddenly gained the nation's attention; being under the lense of a magnifying glass to the power of ad infinity.

I imagine, some of Ijok's concerns that could have turned into quick wins recently could be:
1. Visibility - banners, posters, buntings up? check!
2. Key leaders 'turun padang' to personally chit chat & shake hands with the rakyat? check!
3. Electricity connection for remaining houses without? check!
4. Houses still without T.O.L? Give them now, now, I mean after they agree to cross the right box? check!
5. Trading licences for the side walk warungs approved? check!
6. Meet the 'oh-do-i-really-have-to-meet' rakyat ceramah sessions? check!
7. Kitty bag - just in case some families with children ran out of milk powders and don't have much left to survive till month end ? check!

Ahhh.... after all the above were not mere fishing of votes. Those were noble acts of the rulers for their humble citizens. So dig in Ijok people! Dig in deep, if I were you!

What was this again? A by-election? And how can I have one taking place in my town?

Google, google, google ..... Opppss!! Vacancies arising from reasons of death, resignation or disqualification of my town incumbent MP or State Assembly(wo)men?

Alamak... Though I wish something real quick should be done to the pot holes at my downtown mainstreet, the non existing public library and the malfunctioning traffic lights, I don't want to be so cruel to be wishing for such reasons cited above to be happening. It was bad enough that YB had to be hospitalised after he accidentally caught on fire when officiating Abang Idin's school's sports day... sigh.... kesian YB!

But more importantly ... I personally won't be satisfied with just some quick wins. But how many feel the same? Or those quick wins are good enough for the majority still?

Sigh .....