Winning the War

It's been a long time since I've posted.

Life and work in general has gotten in the way. My apologies. Laziness too.

But today, I just couldn't contain myself.

My beloved state was not able to deny the coalition of thieves and liars this time around. And it was extremely disheartening and disappointing for me.

I need to remind myself, however, that Rome wasn't built in a day. There are many take-aways from this episode.

Firstly, that although the majority given to the ruling coalition has been reduced by more than 5%, it isn't enough. That we need to do so much more. How? We will need to look at this from many angles.

1. Who helped the ruling coalition win this? The inlanders.
2. Where did they get the winning votes? Possibly postal votes, ghost voters, etc.
3. What could have helped them achieve this? Many things, but of course, what was most effective was money.
4. Why did we lose in the inlands? Lack of awareness/ education/ relevance of campaign.
5. When do we start with a new campaign, then? NOW. We start NOW. That's how we will win in the GEs. If we're going to be serious.
6. How do we win? I will elaborate below. In summary, we need to start the new campaign now. Do the groundwork. We need to identify candidates whom the inlanders can identify with. We need to find issues that are relevant to them and find workable solutions for them. Most of all, we need to educate and create awareness.

RFS helped us make inroads into some of the inlands of Sarawak. But we shouldn't rely on RFS alone to assist us in making efforts into the inlands. We need to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each constituency, as well as their needs, and move on from there. A one-size-fits-all solution is not suitable for a state like Sarawak. Not when there are major differences in geography and socio-economic conditions. What appeals to the urban voters may not be relevant for the rural voters at all. They can't identify, especially, with politics from the peninsula. It is foreign to them, as foreign as politics in UK or USA or Australia. Therefore, solutions would need to be customized according to constituency.

And we need to start the next campaign right NOW. We cannot be discouraged. We need to find suitable candidates and send them to talk to the rural folks quickly. This is in order for us to find out what we can do to relieve their burden, what the ruling coalition did right, how we are able to overturn the loyalty, and to gain their trust. It's psychological warfare. In order to beat the ruling coalitions system's of bullying, buying out and postal votes, we cannot afford to win by just a slim margin, but we need to have a buffer of another possible n=5000 votes (if possible, dependent on constituency, of course). This would mean that every blue we can turn red is worth the effort.

Our friends from across the sea does not understand. What is so obvious to them is, in truth, completely irrelevant to the inlanders. They don't have internet to be able to read up on alternative media. You see, they don't even have electricity. They have no toilets. They use outhouses instead. They have no clean running water. How would I know? I've seen it. With my own eyes. So please don't be condescending. They can't afford to think too far into the future when they live from day to day. They are even unsure of where tomorrow's food is going to come from. RM1000 is a LOT of money for them. As for NCR? Some don't even know they've signed off their lands until tractors come to clear their land. Because they are illiterate. They rely on the spoken language. That is why they were so easily lied to by the ruling coalition's empty promises.

So how do we become relevant? By getting someone from the area. Who knows. By having people go in there to find out about their plight. Ask to see their land leases. Investigate the situation. Do it NOW. While the ruling coalition is still celebrating. While they are complacent. That's how you build trust. By not just visiting once every 5 years.

If you do it while the ruling coalition does it as well, of course you would not be able to shine as brightly. You don't have the money. You can't compete.

So buy your way in through their heart, not their wallets. Make yourselves relevant in their day to day lives. Send in short wave radios so that they can hear about the evils of the current situation. So that they know. Talk to them and explain how they are at disadvantage. Speak their local language. Know their local customs. Make yourselves relevant.

Speak their language. Create a candidate that is a local hero. Rebrand yourselves as a coalition that is relevant, caring, able to help. Who will always be there for them, not just during election times.

Change is scary for these rural folks. That's why you move in now. Once they are familiar with you, once they are loyal, once you become a friend, they stay loyal, they stay your friend. As you can see from the current results. Make their loyalty yours. Turn these liabilities to your favour.

You find the root and then make a focussed, targeted, and most importantly, CUSTOMIZED effort that would turn the tides around. Hopefully the next time around, would be a major red tide.

We may have lost the battle, but not the war.

high school

:D went on discussion board for STS' alumni on what was it we miss about school most:

here are some which i had ALMOST forgotten....:

1. band practice (STS band rawked!)

2. school library (yeah, we had some REALLY INTERESTING books there :P)

3. climbing over St Jude's gate when they locked it in order to go to St Joe Parish tuition (HAHAHA!! GUILTY!!! lihai lehhh... in pinafore skirts some more... *rolls eyes* damn tomboy, i know :P)

4. St Jude's Maggie Mee curry with egg. Very sedap and unique taste, I'm still trying to get the same taste for my own Maggie mee curry. (OMG... YAAAA.....)

5. The lab storeroom where they stored preserved fetuses. That's what got me hyped about biology and ended up doing vet med. Yeah, I'm a sadist. (OMG... YARRRRRRRRRRR AGAIN! we had the COOLEST bio lab shit ever!)

6. Canteen's Sarawak laksa. Bloody damn sedap and cheap too. And also the mee soup. (:D YESH... and Mee Jawa too, i think. STS' canteen food pwnts SJS' anyday :P:P:P)

7. going to toilet with a special key (:P don't ask why, we also dunno. prolly so girls don't stuff used pads down the toilet and block up the entire sewerage system of the toilet block. yah. we had toilet BLOCKS :P)

8. The 'haunted' school hall back staircase! LOL! (yeah... all the ghost stories :P)

9. The beautiful school grounds with all the trees.. falling leaves (very autumn-ish) and all that! (OMG... yessss..... i still have dreams of going back to school when the leaves are falling, and walking the school grounds with it's up hills and down hills. like i used to do every morning yonks ago...)

10. The classrooms which were never too sunny.. and from the top floor, if you were lucky, you could actually see squirrels! (squirrels, birds, and hordes of other things :P)

11. First Fridays, because classes would start late (MUAHAHAHA... and those Days of Obligation, etc. etc. i know non-catholics (*coff*psycho!*coff*) who would suddenly be catholic for a day :P

12. summerhouse's ice kacang (by the 3 sisters. old fashioned, cooked with charcoal... YUMMMMM.... they don't have it anymore :()

13. playing board games on the LAST day of exams/school (and a lot of other made-up games to entertain ourselves :P)

14. choral speaking :P

15. the colourful teachers.

16. Old St. Mike's. (for kolomee and cui kiao :D)

that's what i missed as mentioned on the discussion board.

these are mine that weren't mentioned:

17. opening the merit-demerit book on the first day of school and seeing this:
dilarang berdua-duaan di kawasan perkarangan sekolah, gereja, dan perkuburan gereja. mata demerit: 10 markah (? or was it 20 markah? whatever. it was A LOT ok, for berdua-duaan! :P)

18. having a class more than 50% prefects.... and all BLOODY CORRUPTED to boot. :P *pssstttt..... spotcheck! keep the things!* LOL!

19. hiding liquid papers, CDs, and all manner of illegal stuff behind the boards at the back of the class, and the old blackboards in front.

20. being in a reallllyyyyy oooooolllllllddddddd school. u can smell the history seeping from the halls and stairways :) and the moveable double blackboards. :P that's the only reason i watch Harry Potter movies :P it reminds me of the la sallian brothers, franciscan sisters and british education system which our own is based on. even more so back home, and in a convent school like STS. :)

21. working on the school mag with davi, marg and siew ling. that's english and bm editors for u :)

22. annoying the fuck out of our teachers. making one particular one cry in primary 5. ok, not proud of it. but he was a MAJOR ASS.

23. creating jingles..... like: on top of spaghetti... all covered with cheese..... or: batman!!! walkin' down the highway, car came the other way, FLATMAAAANNNNN!!!! :D

24. the pencil family.

25. paper hangman, and those games where we divided a paper into columns labelled: countries, names, cities, famous people, animals, etc. 98 girls would know what i'm talking about ;) man, we were nerds/geeks. :P and proud of it!

26. creating ridiculous stories.

27. burping competitions in class. C/JJ were probably the undisputed queens of the burp!

28. having a fascination and endless conversations on GI Joe, Transformers, Saber Rider from 9-12, Aladdin from 12-14, X-Files from 14-our early 20s, archaelogy (especially Egyptian) from 13-18? *rolls eyes* definitely tomboys, we were :P

29. wearing shorts underneath our pinafores.

30. hanging-out at the church compound after school.

31. the sense of school pride. :) yeah, elitist somewhat, but i can't help it. A Teresian once, a Teresian for life! it was, after all, what forged and formed my identity.

32. the life-long friendships we forged for life. :) that's priceless, girls. it really is. XOXOXO. wherever we will go. however far we would move away from home and each other. there'll always be a bond between us. :) a toast to my sisters!

anything else? :) can't think of anymore right now. and it's time to go home :D

If music be the food of love, play on....

Was chatting with my former student, and she complained about her missing documents before abruptly stopping and said, "Hey, teacher, I gotta go. Got to prepare for orchestra."

A pang of something shot through me, I don't know what. Regret, nostalgia, maybe?

What I know for sure is that I miss the Nurse, and I miss SONS. Can't think of one without the other. I miss playing the piano. (Though I was never a member of SONS). But plenty of my friends then were.

I suppose I miss those times. I miss how we all were then.

Before I came here. Before things got in the way.

It was like The Age of Innocence.

Then again, now isn't all bad.

So if Music be the food of Love, play on...

Dragonflies

Been seeing too many dragonflies of late. I walk out of the house, and I see a dragonfly. Whether the real thing, or a human interpretation of it.

I wonder what it means....

Not that I don't like dragonflies. I love them. Caught them as a child. Studied the different colours and intricacies of the wing patterns. Then I released them.

Yep! I is kampung girl. I could tell the difference between a male and female dragonfly as a girl. Not sure I remember how to now anymore, though.

Even as a 5-year-old, I loved Biology.

Had always preferred dragonflies to butterflies, for some reason. Perhaps I liked the fact that dragonflies seem to be able to move from water to air. It's as though they made something out of themselves from humble beginnings.

Never mind. I'm rambling. And beginning to sound even more like a madwoman than usual. :)

I'm not superstitious, or anything, but... there has been times in my life when a recurring event/object/creature means some Greater Power up there is trying to tell me something.

Dreams. Objects. Events. Form 5. Form 6. University. PG Dip. Now.

Dejavu.

I wonder what it means.

I really do think Someone's trying to tell me something. It's getting way too often to be ignored.

Should go and find out if dragonflies mean anything, and if they do, what they symbolise.

Sigh.... Now I sound even more insane than I already am. :P

Taking Leave

might take a hiatus from blogging for awhile.

decided to take a month's unpaid leave.
that would mean i won't be having internet connection, either.

planning to go home, but we'll see about that.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

Spent it thinking. And missing home.

I miss:

1) My family. The family gatherings at my house, though Dad's one of the younger sons. The raucous laughter at the dinner table, the gambling, the teasing, the fussing over food.

2) My friends. Geez, I haven't met them for ages.

3) The food. Need I say more? Fried prawns. Angzhao pork. Stewed pork trotters in black soysauce. Steamed fish Teochew style. Stewed duck in spices. Vegetables cooked just right. And much much more. Dammit.

4) The smell of gunpowder. Firecrackers, man. Ask my friend Jo about where to get the longest firecrackers, and he'd tell ya. Hehehe.... It's Kuching. What's CNY without the firecrackers?

5) The visiting. Last year when I stopped, we'd done 13 houses from 10-4. I wonder what's this year's record? :P

I MISS CNY. I miss home. This is the FIRST time since 2001 that I've ever felt homesick. Shit....