n+1 sides to every story...

Technorati tags: Malaysia, Politics, PAS, PKR, Democracy

To PAS and PKR: thanks very much for fucking up the cornerstone of democratic process - elections.

Granted, our electoral rolls are far from perfect, primarily because they're so archaic, but to boycott the polls altogether? Well, whatever credibility that both PAS and PKR (not a lot, by the way) had with Walski has since disappeared.

From day one, the DAP made it clear that it was not interested in contesting Batu Talam, realizing that it's chances were as good as surviving a heart attack while waiting for a Malaysian ambulance to arrive.

Of course, the mudslinging then began, first with PAS insinuating that "somebody" would field an independent candidate, and put the blame on them (from Harakah, full article in Bahasa Malaysia).

"Mahfuz mengingatkan mana-mana pihak yang hendak menaja calon bebas di dalam pilihanraya kecil itu dan kemudiannya menuduh PAS yang melakukan perkara itu supaya melupakan politik lekeh dan murahan mereka."

Mahfuz (refering to PAS Central Committee Member Haji Mahfuz Omar) reminded whomever that wanted to sponsor an independent candidate in the by-election, and later accuse PAS of the sponsorship, to forget their petty and cheap politicking.

Of course, some people did just that - except that the blame got put on the DAP. Primarily because the independent candidate is the son of Pahang state DAP treasurer. Truth be told, the independent candidate is kinda goofy looking - or Ah Beng-ish, as described by blogger Alphabet Soup.
(n+1 in the full post)

Batu Talam's #1 Politician Wannabe du jour
(picture from Malaysiakini, via Politics 101 Malaysia)

And as the actual polling date approaches, things are probably going to get weirder and weirder. Actually, Walski hopes that Ah Beng the Politician (whose real name is Ng Chee Pang, by the way) does get lots of votes. At the end of the day, however, it will probably be BN who retains the seat - despite the fact that its candidate is a defendant in a pending lawsuit (via Harakah).

All this reminds Walski of something someone once told him a long time ago - that there is always more to a 'story' than meets the eye. For example, in an argument between A & B, there would be 3 sides to the story - A's version, B's version and the 3rd side - what really happened.

Always n + 1 sides. But in the n-dimensional story that is Batu Talam, we may never really know the +1 - the real story.

One thing is clear, though - when the ballots have been cast, the votes tallied, and the victor announced - the real losers will be probably be the people of Batu Talam.