NOMINATION DAY

August 16, 2008. Permatang Pauh. My friends and I woke up to a very exciting morning as it was nomination day in Permatang Pauh. We had early breakfast and made our way to the nomination centre.

The road was pretty clear but as we got closer to the nomination centre the traffic started to pile up. There were hundreds of PKR supporters in their cars heading towards the same destination. As we got closer to the centre we came across a few hundred PKR supporters that were walking towards the centre. Nothing happened initially until one of them started to shout and jeer at us. They started to knock our doors and hit the windows of our car. We paid no attention to them and kept on driving to avoid any mishaps. I was however pist at that point and wondered why our people were turning into hooligans. Would they be so brave if they did not have the numbers on their side?

Due to the heavy traffic and road blocks everywhere, we had to park our car approximately 2km away from the centre and continued walking from there. As I approached the field of the nomination centre more and more PKR supporters were shouting and screaming as if their daughters had been raped. Majority of them were angry and bitter. Again I paid no attention to them and continued walking.

All candidates contesting must submit their registration form between 9am to 10am. They were also allowed to protest on their opponents between 10am to 11am. The SPR will then check the protest from 11am to 12pm. So, all the supporters of both BN and PKR waited from 9am to 12noon. The 5,000 BN supporters were clearly out numbered by the presence of 20,000 PKR supporters.

Once the nomination process was completed and both candidates acknowledged their supporters the crowd started to disperse. As we were walking towards our car it started to rain heavily. Walking in the rain soaking wet, I said to myself “Thank god it is raining. At least this will help cool down the PKR supporters.” I was dead wrong. They waited for the BN supporters at the end of the road chanting and cursing at us. They were clearly going all out to scare us and therefore win the phsy war on that day.

As a BN supporter I respect all other opposition parties and supporters for their beliefs and stand. I have also experienced many elections but I would have to say that this was the worst in terms of discipline and respect for others. My hope is that such brutal and savage behavior is not practiced in future elections. Let us continue to respect one another no matter what our beliefs and differences maybe.