E-Day

E-Day

The day has arrived for Malaysians to decide and what a day it was! Today was history in the making and it was a moving experience for me personally as i witnessed how my fellow Malaysians voted together in spite of much media manipulation and political gimmicks seen in the past two weeks of campaigning. Today is one of my proudest day to be Malaysian!

The day started with voters coming forward to vote beginning at 8AM. i was at the voting centre early as i needed to find the first story angle for the day. i was surprised to see people queuing even before the gates were opened. i found my story when we were told of a wedding couple going to vote just before they proceeded with the wedding ceremony :) apparently, according to the Chinese calendar, today was a good date to wed -- maybe it is a good day for voting too :)

I managed to take some time off so i could also fulfill my responsibility as a citizen. after that it was rest for the afternoon until i have to work again. i reached the tallying centre in Bangi after 7pm and the first news that welcomed me was one of the state opposition candidates were leading in votes. too early to tell, i told myself and fellow colleagues.

By 8pm, the sms-es started streaming in with many breaking news of the falling of certain seats to the opposition parties. it was shocking, unbelievable and overwhelming. as these were not official announcements, i held back from being too excited. By 9pm, it was clear that indeed some of the messages were true. even the screen that was before me seemed to indicate that the oppositions were having an upper-hand. could this be true?

The tv was switched on about 10.30pm and we were able to watch the official results being released live. by then, the oppositions were on a roll, wrestling seats in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Perak, both parliamentary as well as states. even in Selangor, my friend was messaging me that the "giants" were being slain. it was too good to be true. when i saw on tv that the incumbent Sungai Siput was ousted, it finally dawned on me that change was taking place right before my eyes. what exhilaration to be part of this historical moment! imagine if i had not voted!

By midnight, it was confirmed that the ruling party had lost four states and failed to wrestle Kelantan from the opposition parties. this is their biggest defeat in Malaysian history of five decades of independence. opposition supporters in the hall were in a jovial mood as they hugged, shook hands and high-fived each other. the initial suprised looks were replaced by satisfaction and sense of achievement for having to persevere and persisted all these years. some were even teary because they didn't expect such tremendous results.

However, the sms-es were turning into caution as fear of history repeating itself ie. May 13, 1969, surrounded the minds of many. a friend told me that a fight broke in Klang between two different groups of youths. other than that, i haven't heard of anything drastic happening so far.

The announcement of results were delayed and we waited until 4am before the officers finally made the official announcement. tired as it was, it's been a memorable day, for me, my colleagues, my fellow Malaysians and Malaysia herself. today, we made history because we stood together as Bangsa Malaysia. It's truly a day to be proud of!