Whimsical city

Monday, September 23, 2013

My Dad, Our Hero.

5th day of May 2013 marks a very important day of the Malaysian history. At least to me and my family.

Dad was contesting for the parliamentary seat for the constituency of Sandakan for the 1st time. It is not easy to want to be a politician. Let alone being one. But Dad has always had a thing for wanting to make a change for the betterment of the society. I'm not saying this because he's my dad, but honestly, I am proud for what he is doing; I am proud for his undying energy to help the weak and his courage to voice out for the aggrieved; and I am proud of him for not giving up hope to our near hopeless country under the governance of our current government. 

Before Dad decided to contest for the parliamentary seat, he's been active in all sorts of public related activities. He was the counselor for our Sandakan Municipal Council, attending to all sorts of complaints from the public. He is the Secretary General of the Sandakan Chinese Chambers of Commerce. He is one of the directors of the school board for a few schools. He is the chairman of the Anti Coal Powered Plant Action Committee. 

There was a period of time when our small town of Sandakan was under the threat of the emplacement of a huge coal powered plant project by the government. It is a known fact or common sense (emphasis added on the word common sense) that coal endangers the lives of our people and our future generation and its usage should be kept at the minimum possible. I guess our government is evidently lacking of common sense, needless to say. For the sake of the people of Sandakan, Dad led a team and fought against this project till it was scraped off. I'm pretty sure his face had been appearing pretty often in our local papers then. XD
Our small town of Sandakan has been (and still is) under the threat of electricity shortage for decades and Dad has been questioning SESB and fighting for sufficient power supply for as long as I can remember. I know, because I have been helping Dad on the letters and press statements on this issue. 
Our small town of Sandakan has been (and still is) under the threat of the flooding of illegal immigrants and a victim of Project IC (where illegal immigrants are given citizenship by the government in return for their "loyalty") for decades. DO YOU KNOW that a fake identity card can be processed in just a few minutes? The livelihood of the people of Sandakan is at stake with all these "aliens" around. Because of these aliens, we can't have a clean election. Because of these aliens, we can't have a fair election. Because all these aliens were bought with money. OUR hard earned money. Not the government's, but ours. Where do you think the government gets the money to buy these aliens for their votes? Tax payers' money! That's how the opposition lost again in this round of election. It was too dirty. Our government was too corrupted. 
All these problems in just a small town of mine are exhausting and draining. Especially when you can't seem to see any improvement or hope under the governance of our current government. I would probably choose to let it be or run away, if you ask me.. But not Dad. He has been fighting and is still fighting. AND not to mention he still has a job to sustain which includes running around to get projects for his business. Sometimes I wonder.. where does Dad get all the energy from? One job is already stressful enough!
When Dad joined Democratic Action Party (DAP) and started to be more and more active in politics, his partners in his business decided that he (my dad) was too vocal on the wrongdoings of the government and were concerned that the business will be affected (because the projects are mostly sourced from the government and Dad's whackings on the government without hesitation have of course panicked them). And So, Dad was asked to leave the company.
Dad asked all of us (the family) whether if it's ok that he leaves the company and continues to be in politics fighting for the rights of the people. We all said YES. That's the right thing to do. And he left the company and started afresh on his own, looking for projects on his own (well, he still has a family to feed) and still is passionately active in politics.

5th of May 2013 - The day that caused the family to tremble. The day that caused all Malaysians to tremble, in fact. The battle against the evil and heart-wrenching governance. Me, my brother, my sister, my good friends and fellow DAP members were the polling agents on duty in Sandakan. I think it was the 1st time for most of us to be polling agents. It was NOT as easy as you thought it would be, trust me. There were many irregularities by the BN agents reported, there were many vans and minibuses sending aliens to vote spotted but it's not an easy task to apprehend them. I was the polling agent for the postal votes division. I, myself, heard the BN agent right next to me talking on the phone and I quote "No, don't send too many of them in 1 car, it's too obvious. Break them down and send them in batches." It's an obvious implication that he was referring to the aliens!! But alas, what can we do? The battle was intense. The polling ended at 5pm and the counting commenced thereafter. I tried not to blink during the counting in order to avoid any miscalculation. I tried not to let my eyes leave the ballot boxes in order to avoid any chances of the ballot boxes being replaced. I requested for the mouths of the ballot boxes to be sealed prior to the counting of the ballot papers. I stood next to the door and opened it from time to time to check on them when we were asked by the staff to leave the room after the segregation of the postal votes in order for them to prepare for the counting process. I tried to make sure there were no irregularities under my purview..

At 11.35pm, the counting board showed Dad won by a majority of 1,088 votes. It was a victory for Dad, a victory for us, a victory for DAP and a victory for those who voted for him! Emotions spurred (my brother couldn't contain his tears, yup) and it was a night to be remembered.

My dad. He is our hero; our fighter; our pillar of strength. I pray to God to continue to hold him up and and to give him the strength to fight against all evils in his pursuit towards a much much more challenging journey ahead.

That's my dad. Gaya-nya :D
The main counting hall where bags of ballot boxes were carried in

Dad with our Adun contestants, Mr George Hiew and Mr Frankie Poon and members
Me, Dad, bro and sis - the victory hug
The signboard which determined the results

Dap supporters during the nomination day

With Mr Karpal Singh

With Superman
Oops, bro was caught in tears in the local newspaper

Me, the seconder for Dad during the nomination day

Dad caught in camera during the Bersih rally - I printscreen this image from YouTube

Dad in one of his many talks

Dad and DAP's victory reported in the local newspaper

To those who voted for and supported Dad and DAP all this while, we thank you sincerely and please keep supporting us because it is because of you all, Dad and DAP are still fighting. For a better country and a better nation.


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