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Saturday, May 05, 2007

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 .....

12 comments:

Ordinary Superhero said...

Well, that's the way they do things in Malaysia. And surprisingly, it's not vote buying according to EC.

simah said...

quick win or not... kalau dia do something with the winning..give back to the people... public library..traffic lights.. etc..like u mentioned in ur blog...tu yg penting...

Makcik Runner said...

this ijok thing was mentioned recently in our community website. very interesting topic. boleh buat movie if there's any smart film director who's willing to do it.

orang kata masa by-election camnilah apalagi general election nak mintak macam2 ye tak? heran yek, mintak seblom election ade je alasan tak dapat nak buat - no budget lah blah blah blah tapi bile time election ada plak budget and then cepat lak siap like u said "quickie".

Unknown said...

Ibu, thanks for visiting my blog and for giving me words of encouragement...

Masa nilah nak mintak demand dari kerajaan...kan? if selama ni terabai...masa nilah mintak depa buktikan... masa ni...lepas tu?

ElJay said...

this is the good time to ask and demand.... bila lagi??? To think of it kan... maybe we should have more elections else where... for the fun of it.... do you think then all the towns gonna be spruce up???? sure best kan.....

~ GAB ~ said...

Too bad Saujana Utama missed by a few kilometers from Ijok, y'know just a few minutes drive away before the place where the poster war started. If not, we would have seen many things as well.

Anyway, I was driving to Tasik Puteri visiting a friend through Kundang. The potholes are everywhere. I joked with my wife while driving through; they should've came up with the slogan, "KILL THE ASSEMBLYMAN FOR DEVELOPMENT". weheheh What a bad joke ay? Anyway, it means something behind.

Ayah said...

Ijok ka, Machap ka, batu talam ka apa ka nama ka... it is always a joke how these people make suddden promises over things that may not be what those voters care about... but being voters, the voted anyhow, one way or the other... to me it is just the same circus, one way or the other ....

tokasid said...

Salam to ibu:
All these buy-elections are a joke.
macam cerita kartun.semua dapat macam mee segera.Pas tu semua di lupakan sehingga next election.
I visited Idin's blog. Wah boleh tahan anak bujang ibu.He'll be better than most of us soon.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Ibu,

i suppose that is how the cookie crumbles. It will happen again. Some people can be bought, some tak boleh.
In 1999, the people of Terengganu were given new roads and bridges (i think), and they voted for Pas.


All this aside, let me wish you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

wanshana said...

Dear Ibu,

Happy Ibu's Day!!!

Today is a good day to mencairkan your credit cards....(or better still - Abang Besar's credit cards!!!) Hehehe...

Do convey my warmest Mother's Day wishes to the rest of Majlis Tertinggi, please. Winks*.

Thanks!

You take care, girl!

-Hugs-

Cherry said...

Happy IBU day !
Been there, seen them ... I know how they campaign "maut" when they got back Trg in the last election. BTW - adakah anda blogger frofesional ?

Anonymous said...

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