N.29 Batang Air

29th March Nomination Day

Finally nomination day has come. I consider it to be a learning experience as this is my first time to be part of an election process in a rural constituency. When I was the Padungan Presiding Officer, my area of experience was confined to the activities in the polling station - St. Thomas Secondary School Kuching at that time. The only time I meet my Returning Officer that time would be when we attended the Presiding Officer's training, when we inspected our ballot boxes before polling day, and when we collected our ballot boxes on polling day, finally when we return the ballot boxes and the tally results after polling is over. If there is no election petition we can consider that to be the end of our relationship - something like that. This time in N.29 Batang Air I will get to see the process from A to Z from the nomination process to the polling on 7th April 2009, till the announcing of result. It will be worthwhile as I will be the Returning Officer for one of the Constituencies in Sri Aman Division - by virtue of the Deputy Resident post. Here are the recent nomination activities in pictures (according to the timeline - recorded in the picture properties when I took them) for your consumption - and watch out for my prediction, its certainly another shocker! Something which made me very unhappy.

The Returning Officer in charge has to make sure that the set up at Dewan Sukan Lubok Antu is ready for nomination day - seating arrangements for the candidate, proposer and seconder (No more than three can enter with their espective documents). A special section will also be allocated to the Election Commission chiefs who will be part of the nomination process here today.

When the party candidates, proposer and seconder present their nomination forms to the Returning Officer and his Assistants, it will be strictly by the book and if there are more than one candidates - it will be by queue according to who submits the forms first

Some of the Barisan Nasional supporters and their flags at the Soccer pitch in the Stadium next to the Dewan

The Independent Candidate Mr. Johnny Chuat with his proposer and seconder was also at the Stadium, talking to the media and press

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat supporters section

The Democtratic Action Party (DAP) members who came from outside Lubok Antu (as we met them at the junction when we arrived there in the morning) to join their Parti Keadilan Rakyat members.......can anyone spot the tight jeans?

The sun was already up at this time - tents were prepared for the VIPs accompanying the Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate, Barisan Nasional candidate and the Independent candidate

The various leaders form the Parti Keadilan Rakyat led by YB Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim met Mr. Jawah Gerang and wishing him luck at the entrance of the nomination centre while waiting for it to open

Mr. Nelson Mujah Girie, the Returning Officer flanked by Mr. Ignatius Ayai (right) and Mr Raduan Alem (left) announcing the Nominations period begins at 9:00 a.m at the Centre. Mr. Jawah was the first to submit his forms and entered the Dewan first with his Proposer and Seconder

The Barisan Nasional candidate Mr. Malcom Mussen Lamoh arrived accompanied by most of the State's Barisan Nasional leaders and additional Barisan supporters. They had marched from the Pintu Gerbang (15 minutes away from the Dewan)

Barisan Nasional Candidate, Mr. Malcom Mussen Lamoh goes into the Nomination Centre with his Proposer and Seconder

The Returning Officer announces that the period for submission of nomination papers are closed (Nominations closed) and that the next hour (10:00 a.m - 11:00 a.m) will be the Objection period

Two nomination forms from the candidates were put up on the notice board for viewing - much to the surprise of the people as there were three candidates inside the Dewan. One of them must have pulled out pulled out of the race.

The Right Honourable Chief Minister talks with the Press

The candidate who pulled out was Mr. Johnny Chuat, who decided not to contest. He threw his support to Parti Keadilan Rakyat and was adorning the PKR flag

A few objection forms had been taken up by the Parti Keadilan Rakyat and submitted to the Returning Officer who evaluated the forms and subject. But smiles from both sides seem to indicate that all was well for the two candidates

The Returning Officer confirms recieving two nomination forms ~ one from Mr. Malcom Mussen of Barisan nasional and the other from Mr. Jawah Gerang of Parti Keadilan Rakyat. It was also announced that the Objection Period was over and though the Returning Officer recieved some objection forms, it was decided that the subjects raised does not warrant rejection of Nomination forms.

The Returning Officer makes the announcement of the BN vs PKR with the candidates present

The two candidates - Mr. Malcom Mussen (Barisan Nasional) and Mr. Jawah Gerang (PKR) poses for the media and press

Leaders from Barisan Nasional waits for their candidate as the announcement is made final

Barisan Nasional candidate Mr. Malcom Mussen Lamoh talks with the media and press after the announcement

Malcom Mussen meets and walk with the Barisan Nasional supporters

Mr. Jawah Gerang gives the 'Reformasi' cry for while he is carried by the Keadilan camp

Mr. Jawah Gerang meets his supporters while the Menteri Besar for Selangor gives a speech of thanks

After that supporters from both side left the Dewan to mark the start of the By-Election race. The Election mood has started it seems as the parties are putting up the campaign billboards for their respective candidates. So far Barisan Nasional is leading with a few Billboards up by noon time.

Pictures of Interest

Parti Keadilan Rakyat VIPs chanting 'Reformasi' led by the Selangor Menteri Besar YB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim

Barisan Nasional leaders at their espective tents led by the State Barisan Chairman the Right Honourable Chief Minister of Sarawak Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud

Friendly chat between VVIPs of different camps sees two Chief Ministers sitting on the same table

Lubok Antu Town has this festivity feeling as the town is filled with people - the party members from different camps mingling with one another without minding the colour of the flags being carried

The Returning Officer's team pack up their gears and documents and will return once more beginning 5 April 2009 as they have to set up Dewan into a Vote Tally Centre and announce the results

Have Camera will Shoot: MAFREL's (Malaysian Free and Fair Election) Peter John points his camera on his target

Have Camera will Shoot II: YB Tuan Alexander Linggi (Member of Parliament for Kapit) also shows that he too have the skills with those cameras

Election Predictions

Provided that you did not scroll down quickly when I was about to announce my shocker - I have to say this only and that the increase in phone line capacity by Celcom and Maxis - Hotlink) was no cure for the congested lines. What is my analysis and prediction for the upcoming election. I have to apologise and that I mentioned Celcom and Maxis - Hotlink will be the best bet for communication connectivity in Lubok Antu for this next 14 days. Especially when we are informed that the signals for the two telcos and service providers would be enhanced.

Celcom and Maxis - Hotlink did not stand out as being the best in Lubok Antu

The lines for Celcom (I had two Celcom lines on my 2 Sony Ericsson) and the Digi line in my 3 years old NEC phone which is a backup phone. My friend James Joshua who was on Maxis - Hotlink line also gave the thumbs down to Maxis as he was not able to update the ongoing event in his microblog. I wanted to do an hour to hour reporting for my Desmotion too. Technology let us down.

In the end most of my communications outside the Nomination Hall and around Lubok Antu town depended on the Yellow Man.

Did we learn anything from this? Yes, I think we all did. The lessons learnt was never take things for granted. To the parties contesting, this analogy can be used - I had in my last post predicted a strong presence for Celcom and Maxis as the powerpoint screen capture provided by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission of telcos coverage (Celcom, Maxis and Digi) indicate better coverage. In the end the unexpected happened and everyone was caught by surprise. Like the strong indications claimed by the respective parties be it BN or PKR do not be like Celcom and Maxis. Line connectivity and reliable communication is important for proper coordination during this election process. From the coverage map everyone would have assumed that Digi had poor coverage, but then it was the other way round. Digi worked well on Nomination Day and I have to take back my word that Digi may not be the preferred choice in the next upcoming weeks ahead. Cheers for the Yellow Man.

Three Musketeers Not

Three N.29 Batang Air Musketeers

For all of you who have known the Three would be Musketeers I was talking about in the last two days, please pat yourself in the back. Whatever is going to happen in N.29 Batang Ai, you could be right or almost right.

Probably only Mr. Adiman Ajem will know if he is reading this posting. Again I have to thank him for the bit of information that he shared with me which will be very helpful for everyone concerned. And finally we let the drums roll shall we to present the result.................

The Three N.29 Batang Ai Musketeers (remember this is Nadai Nama Nama Recipe) are...........

From left: Mr. Johnny Chuat, Ex YB Jawah Gerang and Mr. Malcolm Mussen

Not the Three above!!

My mind was on another thing when I was talking abot the Three Musketeers. One has to remember that the Three Musketeers were actually buddies with their own set of characters. They joined forces with the famous cry "All for One and One for All" and their presence during this coming By Election to fight the lack of Communication Capacity in Lubok Antu area during this time. One can imagine, with thousands of people converging into this small town - the networks will certainly be jammed if we assume that one person possess one handphone, the MMSes and SMSes flying will result in a traffic snarl along the already narrow communication highway.

The Three Musketeers coming to the rescue of thier loyal users are the Celcom, Maxis and Digi line service providers

I have to thank the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions for responding quickly to the communication needs in Lubok Antu, especially in the area of ensuring communication quality during this next two weeks of electoral process. Depending on the traffic, we are not sure how many people will exactly be in Lubok Antu as both parties are playing their cards close to the chests. For everyone's information this is the email I recieved from Mr. Adiman Ajem which I will reproduce for your viewing.

Tuan,

We had earlier instructed all Celcos to upgrade their respective network coverage & capacity to the optimum level from the period of 27 Mar – 9 April 2009 (14 days) particularly in those surrounding areas where electoral processes i.e. voting, nomination, counting & tallying take place. In fact, upgrading processes are already ongoing in Lubok Antu. Our SWRO personnel will be in Lubok Antu this weekend to assess the coverage. When we attend to critical public events e.g. Pesta Benak, election etc. we are looking into 2 solutions of improving the cellular service i.e.:

1. Upgrading / optimizing the capacity of the current coverage available at the areas concerned; and

2. Expanding the coverage to other surrounding areas.

With respect to upcoming Lubok Antu by-election, we are putting priority on item no.1. Note that the Celcos are facing difficulties in term of expanding their cellular coverage to several polling stations due to remote locations of this stations & the hilly terrains of Lubok Antu hinders line of sight capability to connect backhaul link from the existing towers to the desired temporary cellular base station or Coverage on Wheel (CoW, a mobile base station on vehicle/truck). Hope the authorities & people of Lubok Antu will be able to recognize these difficulties. We assure you that the industry is trying its best to optimize coverage surrounding Lubok Antu town particularly at the Kompleks Sukan Lubok Antu where nomination, counting & tallying processes take place (FYI, Celcom was trying to place their CoW at Kompleks Sukan Lubok Antu few days ago but was not permitted by the authority there; they’ve stationed their CoW somewhere near the tower in Lubok Antu town since then. If in anyway you good self can assist us on this will be most appreciative).

Anyway, below are updates from respective Celcos:

Maxis: As of yesterday, traffic utilization in Lubok Antu town and surrounding areas still manageable (utilization merely 10-15% of the capacity, which is low), they will assess further the situation; if traffic increases within this few days, the will upgrade the current BTS capacity and deploy their CoW unit to a location which has been identified earlier i.e. in Lubok Antu town where the Nomination, Counting, Tallying and several polling stations take place.

Celcom: 1 unit of CoW has been deployed to Lubok Antu town last weekend. Traffic is still manageable but will gradually increase its capacity by 27 March, nearing the electoral process.

DiGi: Call traffic still manageable as of yesterday. Will deploy CoW within these 2-3 days.

I take this opportunity also to brief you that SKMM’s bridging digital divide initiatives in Lubok Antu District is ongoing. To cite a few;

1. Celcom had installed 30 payphones at several longhouses, Govt offices and schools around Lubok Antu under USP program in 2008.

2. Maxis is installing additional residential lines & payphone facilities in Lubok Antu beginning October 2008. So far, 26 payphones have been installed.

3. Maxis will develop a Community Broadband Centre (CBC) at Tapang Pungga area, SPS Batang Ai Fasa II (we hope to be able to commission it by June 2009. the award of the project was in Q4 2008).

4. Three more communications towers to be built under the USP program in San Semanju area, SPS Batang Ai & Engkilili schedule for completion June 2009; Sites just approved by Land & Survey 17 Mar. 2009 and currently Sacofa is preparing for the construction works. This will hopefully improve coverage in Lubok Antu.

Not “Maggie mee” initiatives for sure…

Regards,
Adiman Bin Ajem

Attached is our cellular coverage drive test along the main roads in Lubok Antu for your reference:
Green : good coverage
Red : poor / no c

Celcom Coverage: Click to enlarge

Maxis Coverage: Click to Enlarge

DIGI Coverage: Click to Enlarge

One would probably ask - why is this so important for the polling process? It is important for everyone concerned. From the voters who needs to know where to go, or the polling agent who needs to inform their repsective parties of the voting progress, and the Presiding Officers needing to report to the Returning Officer on the hour to hour report status of his Polling Station, for the online reporters of the various parties to update their online portals - any network disruption may cause some delay to the smooth running of the polls. So if you are a Digi user, looking at the map above and those areas being covered you may be a bit disadvantaged. Hope these bits of information helps everyone - and i thank Mr. Adiman and MCMC again (and also the Election Commission - Returning Officer for allowing the mobile signal trucks to be stationed near the Counting Hall) for their help.

Three or Four?

Now back to that interesting question: Will there be a fourth candidate because we all know in The Three Musketeers story there are Four! Have a nice weekend and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Ready To Roll

Countdown: N-Day Minus 24 Hours

I am still doing my evaluation of the Three Musketeers as mentioned in the last post as we approach N-Day or Nomination Day. Its been hard to find time to really sit down and open up the mathematics of it with the slow Internet connectivity. Some of my more adventurous buddies went all the way to bet with me that there will be other numbers apart from three and want me to put my money where my mouth is. Thank you but please be patient and do be mindful that betting is illegal. I can't help smiling at the offers and bets they want me to take up but hey guys, either way you will lose your bets as I will stick with my Three Musketeers. Don't you think their picture looks cute? I will see if I can sit down on it tonight. Anyway here are some images I manage to get while on duty to Lubok Antu again today.

Lubok Antu town was a hive of activity until 5 p.m this evening. One can't help not noticing the fancy cars coming into town - those that are not from this area.

Visiting Tinting Lalang longhouse 15 minutes from town area - the local Lubok Antunians who will be voting at N.29 Batang Ai are a calm lot. We visited this nearby longhouse to chit chat with the folks and get the 'feel' of their anticipation for the By-Election. The folks there were more focused on their harvested padi putting the rice in gunny sacks, maybe to stock it up for the year. No familiar parties flags were found in this longhouse so you can't really know what's in these potential voters' minds - were they into jazz parties? Hip Hop? Disco or Rock Contemporary?

Visiting the District Office which has transformed its meeting room into the Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya (SPR) or Election Commission Operation Room. Everything is ready and set to go and the job is made simpler with modern technology. Imagine how difficult it was long ago when one had to make use of a simple typewriter or pen.

The transparent ballot boxes are all set for inspection and picking up by the various Ketua Tempat Mengundi (Presiding Officers).

The setup reminds me of the past elections I was involved, especially for the Padungan State seat and Bandar Kuching Parliament when I was the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (Presiding Officer). It would be an interesting experience to see how the voting is done in this part of remote Sarawak. So far no news of these MAFREL team in town except for the local journalists. I had my encounter with them when I was the Presiding Officer for May 2006 Elections. But i hope they respect the rules and regulations, they can be quite sticky sometimes - and if their boss, B.K Ong is around I will try to get a picture with him.

Along the way one gets to see the party workers working hard to get things ready for Nomination Day. The flag wars are going to go up pretty soon by the look of things.

In terms of creativity things are certainly heating up as people who come in and out of Lubok Antu through the bridge would not be able to miss this banner put on the raft at Batang Ai river. Anyway if I were to look at it I would be wondering who they are refering to as the banner just say perompak aka robbers. I hope we do not offend our foreign visitors whom we always associate with robberies. So those in the propaganda side need to polish those marketing and advertisement skills.

Familiar T-Shirt: Barisan Rakyat Bloggers team in my camera sights in full war gear. The things he carries looks familiar - lap top, camera and other useful gears

Do these Three cannons outside the District Office (outside the Ops Room) confirm my Three Musketeers theory?

Anyway - if one is to evaluate the state of readiness for this election - everyone is ready to go into full swing. The Election Commission, the Parties or Independents involved, the candidates, the Media and Al Jazeera, the Blogs and Bloggers from both sides with their daggers drawn, the shopkeepers and traders, the bookies (i hope not), the Police who will be going after the bookies and trouble makers, the Indonesians who will be crossing the border from Badau Kalimantan side (they will be wondering what in heavens name is going on here), the Helicopters, Spy Drones..... even the Antus (Ghosts who roam this town will be wishing for all these people to go away)....you name it.... and the voters...ermm...the voters....what can I say about those whom I have met. You see when the political machineries approach them, they do get all excited but when familiar government servants approach them its a different story: I am not that sure about these folks as the Election fever has not really caught on for them. We listen and talked about their harvest this year, those ikan kelis or fish that they are rearing in the tanks. Nothing about the By Election. Maybe when the nomination is confirmed and the candidates start playing their cards, things will get hotter. My occassional chit chat over mee kering noodles, coffee and langkau with the folks seem quite normal without anyone lecturing me on their polictical alignments. The party workers will have a different view, and its funny when they talk to you.... they whisper in your ears.... even if no one is around to listen. Okay okay I appreciate all your secrecies but I do not like the way you lean over as if you are going to kiss my cheek. I only whisper when i talk about Britney Spears and her latest music video. After all this is my first experience in a rural election settings. Except that the would be voters do appreciate the attention they are getting from everyone but sometimes too much attention can backfire also. But we leave the mechanics of voting to the politicians as it still remains the greatest mystery to a simple minded fellow like me. After all I am just a local graduate, studying at the same Uni with B.K. Ong who is now MAFREL Coordinator or Boss in this Batang Ai Election. Some people have all the luck I guess. Not bad dude. One thing for sure I will know is that come Election Day, the voters will be treated like Kings and Queens by all sides. And so your majesties and your Highnesses, the choice will be yours as you will have the "X" Factor.