During the US Presidential Election in 2004, JibJab produced the most memorable song ever.
In Malaysia, we have this:
And thanks to the video, now I know that we will be celebrating Samy Vellu’s birthday on March 8! People! Let us give him a retirement party on that day!
Kita hanya ada dua pilihan: Barisan Nasional atau Malaysia. Tidak perlu was-was lagi. Undi untuk Malaysia dan bukan Barisan Nasional!
Sebarkan!
Are you tired of politicians bad-mouthing us bloggers? Are you tired of our Information Minister calling us bloggers with unfaltering names? Or the son-in-law of an ineffective Prime Minister calling us monkeys?
I am. I have enough of that. Too long have I been patient, enduring insults from these politicians. I am angry and I want to get back at them.
The election is just around the corner and we bloggers have a rare opportunity to flex our muscle and show those folks that we are serious about in getting back at them. No, I am not talking about we — as they say — bashing these folks on our blogs. No. Instead, I am talking about bashing these folks in the Parliament as well as in various state assemblies.
Imagine, bloggers in the Parliament! These folks panic whenever we talk about them. I bet they will piss in their pants if bloggers challenge them in live debates! Enough of proxy wars. It is time to get out of the trenches, overcome the standoff and take the war to them. We are coming for them!
Remembers, these folks want to curtail our freedom of expression. They want to impose licenses on us, they have voiced suggestion to force us to register before we could blog. They want to control us!
The crucial battle for our freedom will be in the legislature. With bloggers in these halls, we could kill any ominous intention to rob us of our liberty before it could even gain momentum.
But first, we need to elect bloggers into the legislative halls. There are several bloggers running for office and they need our help. They need us to spread words of their candidacy. For our own sake, we must help them out and this is the game plan.
In the next few days, emails and messages will fly across the blogosphere, urging bloggers to blog about a blogger candidate on a particular day. With enough participants, we will create enough buzz for the candidate and with effort and a little bit of luck, see the effect spills into the real world. One candidate in one day.
These message could be anything, be it a one liner like “Vote Blogger X” or an endless epic essay on Blogger X. In the end, what we want is an endorsement of blogger candidates from as many bloggers as possible. Remember also to link to the Blogger X.
Here are the blogger candidates that I have identified for this initiative. Date of action is listed in the corresponding parenthesis.
Is there any other blogger candidate? Do propose but remember, we are highlighting bloggers whom are running for offices, bloggers that identify with the blogosphere, not candidates with blogs set up just for the election. Bloggers whom are bloggers before they’ are politicians!
So, are you in or are you out? Netroot arise !
As election nears, incumbents usually try hard to keep their constituents happy. Potholes paved, freebies distributed, streetlights repaired. For PAS — I do not know for sure but I suspect as much — it is enforcement of gender segregation:
KOTA BARU: All supermarkets and hypermarkets must have three separate checkout counters or risk being fined following a decision to enforce the policy more strictly in Kelantan.
[…]
He admitted that enforcement had been lax and Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who is also spiritual adviser of PAS which rules the state, had chided local authorities here for not enforcing the rule of separate checkout counters. [Kelantan to enforce policy on sex-segregated queues. January 24 2008]
The phrases “more strictly” and “enforcement had been lax“, if read with the expected upcoming general election in mind, could mean that PAS thinks that the policy is popular. Who dares to introduce or enforce unpopular policies when election is around the corner anyway?
Keep in mind that what is popular in Kelantan is not necessarily popular in other states.
Regardless, this is a typical case of election: keep your electorates happy only when election nears.
Today in New Straits Times:
KUANTAN: Opposition politician Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he would contest a by-election if he was not allowed to be a candidate in the upcoming general election.
The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser said he would ask one of the party’s elected representatives to vacate his or her seat to enable a by-election to be held after April.
[…]
On whether having a by-election would be unfair to PKR elected representatives, Anwar said PKR members were more than willing to surrender their seats for him.
He also said voters should not have problems supporting him as he was the adviser to the party that they had voted for. [Anwar sets sights on by-election. New Straits Times. January 24 2008]
I think it is quite presumptive of Anwar Ibrahim to say “voters should not have problems supporting him as he” is “the adviser to the party that they had voted for“.
Sir, how relevant are local issues to your electability in such by-election?