A Melancholy Journal from Kangar
Josh Hong

I finally saw rain the day I was leaving Kangar.

As I was standing before the Keadilan operation centre, my mind flashed back to the day I arrived in this northernmost state capital of the Malay Peninsula. The centre was packed with party activists and local visitors who came to update themselves on election news, and I was indeed looking forward to a good fight against BN's strong machinery.

Peace has resumed its place, now that the by-election fever was all over. But I never felt quite so depressed and despondent as I did when the rain came to Kangar.

Two days into my stay here, I already witnessed the bruises of two party activists who had been beaten up by some thugs while pasting the Keadilan election posters around the town. The day the back screen of the car belonging to a party worker was broken, a local Chinese living just behind the operation centre couldn't help saying in Hakka dialect, 'It is far too much! Why don't they just call off all the elections and rule us by decree? Send in the army lah! We can live with it!' Speechless as I then was, fury and indignation were simmering inside of me.

One after another, our activists came back with stories like verbal abuses and intimidation from BN's samseng, while some local shop-owners whispered to me that UMNO activists had 'kindly advised' them to 'behave appropriately' at the ballot box. Some worried voters also called the Keadilan candidate, our beloved Cikgu Khoo, by phone, informing him that some members of Wanita MCA had reminded their wives to vote for the BN candidate, Madam Oui Ah Lan. 'They made it clear by telling my wife that they could identify who her choice was should she fail to act in accordance with their advice.' One of the concerned voters said. This prompted Parti Keadilan to secure a written assurance from an election commissioner one day before the scheduled polling day that voting would be held in 'absolute secrecy'. Has it worked? Unfortunately, I am no wiser than God Almighty on this.

On one occasion, President of Keadilan Dr. Wan Azizah was doing her usual walkabout in the town centre, with a handful of her party members and supporters escorting her. All at a sudden, a team of FRU personnel moved into one of the main streets and lined themselves up, with shields and rattans in hands, as if some riot on the scale of the Kesas Highway melee was about to take place. Failing to comprehend the very reason for their presence, I turned to a friend of mine and asked, 'What are they here for?' Never losing her sense of humour, she answered me with a cynical smile on her face, saying, 'Oh! They are here to protect Kak Wan, so that she doesn't get hurt!'

But I seriously did not expect things to unfold in such a dramatic fashion for the evildoers. On Friday morning, just 24 hours before the polling stations were opened, some banners carrying wordings like 'Hanya PAS Dan Keadilan Akan Membina Negara Islam - Undilah Keadilan' were spotted by the Barisan Alternatif supporters, and they were taken down without delay. There was even a Keadilan logo - the blue eye that is - on the banners to make them look authentic! Just when all of us were wondering who would be the creative strategist behind this masterpiece, a BN four-wheel drive knocked a PAS supporter from behind in one of the Malay areas, apparently by accident, while the latter was on his motorbike. As people from the two political fronts seemed set for some fracas, goodness gracious me! A bunch of Keadilan banners were found at the back of the car! Quite expectedly, this caused uproar in the BA crowd, and a report was duly lodged with the police. Whether or not our Polis Di-Raja will carry out an investigation into the 'lucky coincidence' without fear and favour is beyond my ability to judge, but we now got some clue as to what had become of our missing posters and banners, as well as the origins of the mysterious Keadilan banners!

The warm welcome extended to us by the locals and the positive response from the ceramah-goers notwithstanding, I was bracing myself for the polling day all the same. Although this was my first appearance as an activist at an election in Malaysia, many had warned me against the highly charged atmosphere, fearing that things could get out of hand given my inexperience. But the scenes at the Sekolah Menengah Derma, the polling station that I had been put in charge of, were truly eye-opening.

The first unhappy incident took place when a middle-aged Chinese woman wearing a T-shirt with an MCA logo was found to be carrying four identity cards in her hand. She at first refused to give in, and two guys in MCA waistcoats were pulling her away from us, threatening us with their waving fists. Syabas to the police, who intervened and took the woman away for investigation. Journalists were taking photos of the episode and asking questions, but I am still at a loss as to why this story has never made it to the newspapers.

At about midday, a taiko-like person leading a group of UMNO members was passing before my very eyes, and the deafening chants almost forced me to cover my ears. Just when I was struggling to see for myself who the taiko was, some friends behind me were already yelling, 'Itulah Shahidan Kassim! Itulah ketua samseng! HAPRAK!' On hearing this, couple of Shahidan's followers waved their fists in our direction, only to be stopped by another man of the size of Mike Tyson, the infamous American boxer. Shahidan himself then took a glance at us, and his despising eyes remain vivid in my mind as I am writing this. I always thought I would only encounter such episode in a Godfather or a John Wu's movie, now I am not too sure if I should be thankful to God for seeing such character in a menteri besar. The day after the by-election, Shahidan appeared in a TV3 live-interview on BN's 'resounding victory'. The smartly dressed-up, soft-spoken and polite menteri besar of Perlis could not look more surreal to me on the TV screen. It was indeed quite bitter for me to finally realise the powerful effect of media manipulation and packaging.

I thought I had seen the worst, but fate apparently wouldn't let me off so easily. As part of our campaign against Ling Liong Sik, the President of the MCA, I led a team of activists to parade along the UMNO/MCA crowds lining up at the roadside. Carrying the 'We Don't Want Rotten Fish Head' poster on me, I was chanting 'Kepala ikan ni terlalu busuk, janganlah kempen untuk dia!' Like a thunderbolt, an UMNO member shouted at me, 'Awak ni bukan orang Melayu, janganlah cakap bahasa Melayu!' My mind almost went blank, and his words pierced through my heart like a sharp spear. I regained my composure and answered back aloud, 'Sayalah orang Malaysia, SAYA MEMANG BOLEH CAKAP BAHASA MALAYSIA!' Whether or not my message reached his ear was not for me to know, but I was kicked in one of my legs by another UMNO thug, and the pain that I felt almost caused me to stumble. My deepest fear was now made real, that some in the BN are always ready to resort to racist remarks when forced on the defensive, reminding us the non-Malays that we are still second-class citizens no matter how hard we try to speak 'their' language. I was clearly dumbfounded and deeply hurt.

The poll closed at 5:30pm sharp. Despite the rampant vote-buying activities, broken windscreens, physical attacks, intimidation and the subservient media, Heaven seemed silent on all these and failed to deliver justice. By 7pm, we already knew that not only had we lost, we also lost big. How on earth would the BN candidate have garnered more than 4,000 votes, giving her a majority of almost 2,600? None of us seem capable of making sense of the shocking results. The oil-wheeled BN can attribute their victory to 'hardwork, excellent strategies and strong team spirit', but the hundreds of hampers dished out to many and the outrageously sumptuous feasts attended by thousands over the nine-day campaign period suggest otherwise, not to mention the bruises, the broken car windows and the complaints of some voters that their names had been removed from the list. 

Immediately after the official results were announced, almost all the Chinese leaders of Keadilan packed up and hit the road, leaving me and a couple of party workers to keep Cikgu Khoo company. Politics is indeed a very cruel business, as the very same Keadilan people who had moved heaven and earth to persuade Cikgu Khoo to stand for the by-election were now ready to abandon him all to himself after the crushing defeat. In the last two days of our stay in Kangar clearing up the place, the three of us did our best to assure Cikgu Khoo that we lost because we did not start the campaign with an aim to win the contest by hook or by crook, as the BN did. As for myself, I have indeed found solace in the fact that, whereas Cikgu Khoo worked with us as a Keadilan candidate throughout the nine-day period, he has by now become a friend close to our hearts after the hectic campaigning came to an end.

I finally saw rain the day I was leaving Kangar, as if the many injustices that we had witnessed during the Indera Kayangan by-election moved Heaven to tears at last.

Blurb: Josh volunteered himself in the Indera Kayangan by-election. The exciting campaigning aside, what he saw there has caused him to reconsider the prospects for New Politics and his identity as a Malaysian