Election 2008

Yep, Malaysia just had its 12th General elections this year, and this is my 2nd time voting. Luckily the voting station that I have to go to was just a stone's throw away from where I stay (if you can throw stones a few hundred metres, that is... heh heh!).

I went to the polling station at around 11.30 a.m. on the 8th of March (which was the polling day, duh) on foot, and it was quite a pleasant walk. Not much sun and no sign of dogs :D



My polling centre was Peak Nam Tong kindergarten, right behind the pagoda. There were four rooms allocated for the voting. the crowd was trickling in by the time I got there, but according to a friend who went earlier, the crowd was bigger earlier on (everyone bersemangat, or they wanna do their duty, then get back to work).

Voting was quite smooth: checked my name on the electoral roll at the front desk (there were a few people from the Election Commission to help you check), they will write down your number on a piece of paper with the number of the room you were supposed to vote in, then I queued outside the room. They only let three people inside at one time. There was a police officer stationed outside each room controlling the coming and going of the voters. So when my turn came, I showed the slip of paper to the person inside who announces my name (so that the other people from a few political parties can verify), another person hands me two ballot papers: one for state seat, one for parliament seat. Then I go into one of the little shaded booths and cast my vote. Finally the ballot papers go into the respective bins. There, done!

This year, the Election Commission are using transparent bins, so if you didn't fold your ballot paper enough times, people may be able to peek at whom you voted for. Hey, this is supposed to be a secret vote lah, why use transparent bins? At the very least, use those plastic that is partly opaque, to protect the privacy of the votes. If they use the semi-opaque type of plastic, you can see things inside, but they will not be clear. I think that would be a better solution.

All in all, I think I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes.

Oh yeah, I took some shots on my way back home, but will post it on another day.