No more opinions, just hard facts before we vote

Last Monday, I went into Lembah Pantai as usual for my journalistic duty and to find stories for my multimedia project ‘In The Heat Of Battle: The story of Lembah Pantai’.

Being the first day of the second week of campaigning, I was pretty sure that I would find some interesting stories or issues that can be talked about.

Lo and behold, I did stumble on to some interesting events. The first was the launch of BN’s candidate, Datuk Raja Nong Chik’s, Lembah Pantai report card. And the second, the people’s Malaysian Spring.

Let’s look at RNC’s event first, which took place in Lucky Garden. I thought this was an interesting campaign strategy, sort of like asking the people to evaluate him. It sounded very mesra-rakyat.

As soon as I got there, I could see many cars parked along the roads together with maybe three or four busses as well. And I could see the large marquee that had been erected.

It was, of course, filled with people of all races. And they were all very enthusiastic, clapping and cheering, waving flags and shaking party noise-makers.

Then RNC arrived and the cheers grew into shrieks and screams. I was amazed. Many of his events in the area haven’t really attracted large crowds (except for nomination day).

He shook hands, waved and sang patriotic songs as he walked amongst the crowd heading towards the stage. Once he was up on stage, he started his speech.

That was when I felt slightly surprised. The Lembah Pantai report card was really a compilation of all the things he has done and contributed to Lembah Pantai over the years.

I was expecting a report card that would involve the people, or at least an external party, evaluating the performance and then giving RNC a credible and independent ranking.

Instead, here was RNC (or his team) evaluating himself and his performance and then declaring that he has done good for the people of Lembah Pantai with much fanfare.

Then, I made a move to a different part of Lembah Pantai. This time it was a much lower key event in the heart of Taman Bukit Pantai.

The atmosphere is slightly different here. No political machinery in high gear here. Just a bunch of hardworking, ordinary Malaysians volunteering their time for a cause they believe in.

This is the Malaysian Spring movement started by a group of Lembah Pantai locals, namely architect Ng Sek San, to create awareness for the election.

Although PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar has adopted the movement, it is still managed, run and executed by ordinary Malaysians in Lembah Pantai (and its spreading all around the Klang Valley).

They are based in a terrace house where they prepare colourful little flags that they call ‘flowers’. And then they head out to different areas to ‘plant’ these flowers.

That night, they headed out to Kampung Kerinchi with about 2,000 plus flags and about fifteen volunteers all in good spirits.

Once planted, the flags looked quite pretty, and it sure beats the usual obtrusive and haphazardly hangings of party buntings, posters and flags everywhere.

Unfortunately, one of the volunteers called me the next day in the afternoon and told me that I should go visit the site where the flags were planted.

Everything had been cleared off and not a single flag was left there anymore. No one knows who actually came to take it all away.

So there you go, an observation from my end of two different events happening on the same night in the same Lembah Pantai area.

Although this is an opinion column, I think I shall refrain from stating my supposedly hardcore opinions in this piece. I’ll let you, the readers and viewers form your own opinion.

We are now in the final leg of the campaign period, and in just two days, we will all go to the polls. I really doubt if anyone of us still haven’t formed an opinion, right?

So, good luck to all of us Malaysians in fulfilling our responsibility to the country.

Selamat mengundi!

*Click here to view the video of both the 'Malaysian Spring' and 'Lembah Pantai Report Card Launch' video.