Election campaigns -- raise the bar please

The people were telling me exactly just that, when they met me on my weekend photo-walk rounds, earlier today.

“Could they please ask us, yes, we, the people, what we want out of their ceramah?” says a university student.

And it’s CERAMAH time again.

Well, it started way, way before nomination day. In fact, it started more than a year ago.

While there were sessions that attracted many people, there were also gatherings where the people who attended were only party members – who were already “converted”.

Instead of party workers, ceramah should be designed and targeted for people who are non party members, and they are smart people who want well researched information to make the all so important decision. Raise the bar.

The last time I checked a huge percentage of Malaysians are not political party members. And they hold the power to decide who should represent them in Parliament and the State Assemblies.

Unlike the past elections, voters today are extremely savvy when it comes to getting information on candidates, political parties, and future challenges of a developing nation. Raise the bar.

“We hate it when they make bad remarks about their opponents. We want to know how we can stretch our Ringgit in the next 5 years”, says a 40 something businessman. “Be specific with facts and figures and how we, the people, fit it the big picture,” he added. Raise the bar.

A 30-something pisang goreng seller told me, in the past, she has witnessed candidates who needed other famous personalities to do the talking for them. “Then how can we evaluate the capabilities of the candidate?” she said. Raise the bar.

Then, there are the party workers…

I have had my share of “unhappiness” with party workers on both sides, BN and Pakatan Rakyat. While there are good leaders on both sides, some of the young, not so well informed party workers can give a bad name to political parties.

At times, they will yell and scream profanities criticising their political opponents, in front of the people who will decide on the future of their political parties.

And recently a fellow journalist was told “kalau aku tahu kau pangkah ___(parti lawan) aku cari kau sampai tak cukup tanah kau nak lari”, translated “if I know you voted for ___ (the opponent), I will look for you and you have no place to hide”.

Oh come on. There is no place for intimidation. Step back and think. It is now critical to RAISE THE BAR.

We, the people will only vote for candidates who are good, intelligent and with a high degree of integrity.

So political parties need to manage expectations – train your party workers well. Raise the bar.

“At times, I feel, we the people should rule, because the kind of things said by some politicians, just don’t make sense. Some are plain rude, arrogant and think they are just so powerful, biasalah orang politik,” says a 50 something who is thinking of early retirement.

But I beg to differ. Not all politicians and political party workers are like that. I just had supper with the son of a very prominent politician from the northern state of Malaysia yesterday, and he is so nice – a good MP material, but he prefers to work on his “healthy snack” business, rather than run for MP. He is tired of the “politicking’ in his political party.

At the end of the day, a 23 year old, who will vote for the first time this year sums it all up, “if only they can just talk for 5 minutes and answer my questions on how I can improve my life, with affordable housing, affordable good education, good public transportation and good strategies to help me have more disposable income... Kempen kutuk-kutuk orang, kita tak suka (we don’t like “hate” campaigns)”. Raise the bar.

"It is not about politicians, elections is all about us, we, the people”, says a waiter.

Political party workers must be savvy in managing expectations. Raise the bar.

Top-down has gone, empowerment is in.