I was in a Metrobus a few nights before the elections. It was a typical Ampang jam. Motorbikes could be seen whizzing past with their BN flags hanging out.

One such flag hit the mirror and smashed it. The bus driver honked repeatedly in rage!

He then honked each time he stopped at a bus stop, to get passengers.

I could imagine his rage. If I was him, I would drive down to the ceramah, honk at everybody until he reached the front, and holler out;

“Bendera BN pecah cermin ini! Siapa bayar? Siapa bayar?”

I registered to be a voter sometime in October 2007. When they announced that one could check if one’s name was on the electoral roll online, I checked. Nope, I wasn’t there. Checked again. Nope, still nothing.

Despite this, I decided to try my luck on Election Day. I went to my old primary school, just across one junction from my grandmother’s house. Checked again.

Nope, I registered too late.

I walked around my old school to see what had changed. Many rooms had become storerooms and messes. The toilets were still in slipshod condition… and two toilets on the top floor had become junkyards. No wonder I was terrified of these back then.

The school seemed amazingly small now. I felt like a giant!

The voters, I saw, were mostly of the older generation. Where were the chicks? Do they not care about the future? (Or was it just Saturday-morning-after-a-Friday-night?)

At least, these voters shared my vote. I didn’t even know he was the new vice-president of MCA until he lost his seat!

Who knows what there is to be dissatisfied about? I don’t like the mosquitos, or the crime rate (drive to SS2, get a broken window). Still, it’s nice to know that the system worked.

Maybe, it was this campaign poster that backfired.

Yes, it does look like there is a red packet with money inside, being exchanged! Not under the table mind you, openly given over the table.

(It’s actually a passport being handed to the lady, at the immigration department.)

And only one choice is an ironic statement, because choice implies more than one choice. Maybe “best choice” would sound less pushy.

That said, welcome! Both the place I currently live in, and the place I was registered at, have new faces.