Transmission of information

This is a perfect example of how influential the USA is, that even a roadside hawker in Kelantan (the only state in Malaysia that is was controlled by an Opposition party before yesterday's election) knows who one of the presidential candidates is. Probably the owners of most small mom-'n'-pop restaurants here don't even know there's a country called Malaysia let alone that we're having elections in the same year as them:

“Yang kito nak kat Malaysia ni pemimpin yang bermutu, buke pemimpin yang penipu! Kok Amerika tu ado Barack Obama, yang Negro tu. Hei, baik pun Negro dio tu, dio tu orgre bermutu, bukan mace Bush yang buat cerito gilo di Irak. Nah, pemimpin begitu loh yang kito nak di Malaysia ni”

(Rice stall owner, in front of Muhammadi mosque, Kota Bharu)

It's from an article titled "Vox Pop ala' Kelate" on Malaysia Today. Kelantanese speak a unique dialect of Malay...it's quite different to listen to. One of my favourite musicians, Zainal Abidin, uses it in some of his songs.

Anyway, translated:

What we want in Malaysia is quality leaders, not leaders who are liars! In American they have Barack Obama, that Negro guy. Hey, even if he's a Negro he's still good, not like Bush who's doing crazy stuff in Iraq. There, it's leaders like that we want here in Malaysia.

(NB black people are still an unusual sight in Malaysia, outside of the urban areas where there are a fair number of African college students.)

This solution

Welp...Parliament dissolved today...the circus has begun.

Oh, and is anyone surprised that AAB is a few hours short of being a TOTAL bare-faced liar?

Wednesday February 13, 2008 Parliament won’t be dissolved today, says PM

BANGI: Parliament will not be dissolved today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put an end to such speculation, telling reporters here yesterday: “Esok tak ada (No, it won’t be tomorrow)”.

He also denied that today’s Cabinet meeting would be the last with his present team of ministers before Parliament is dissolved to pave the way for the next general election.

Wednesday February 13, 2008
MYT 1:10:44 PM Parliament dissolved, elections on

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has announced that Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the 12th general election.

At a hastily convened press conference at his office Wednesday afternoon, he said he had met the Yang Di Pertuan Agong in the morning and received His Majesty's consent to dissolve Parliament.

"I've informed Parliament and the Election Commission," Abdullah said. The state assemblies have also been advised to dissolve.

Also, I'm excited that Jeff Ooi is running. Go Malaysian bloggers!

Pray for peace. I think we've all seen in the last few months how apparently stable countries (e.g. Kenya, Pakistan) can dissolve into chaos when the fairness of elections is severely compromised and politicians on both sides - Gov't and Opposition - think more of their own power than of the people they're supposed to represent. (Look at Bhutto; her administration and family were notoriously corrupt while she was in power but then she gets shot and all of a sudden she's a martyr for democracy.) I really doubt anything so extreme will happen in Malaysia, but pray for us.

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Barack Obama was in Madison today. I support him but as to the prospect of my spending hours in a stadium crammed with noisy undergraduate students (ref: undergrad cooties), he can go fly a kite =P

Also, David Morgan-Mar (the Irregular Webcomic guy, who's Australian) explains why the rest of the world gets upset about American presidential elections: they have so much power over us but we have no say. I've been trying and trying to explain this to my white Republican boyfriend. At least he supports McCain =)

Decision Time!

So I did say I hate politics, especially US politics, but I do love filling out questionnaires.

This website (MyElectionDecision.org) was developed by some people from the Psych department of my alma mater. It shows you sets of eight unattributed quotations on 5 issues: Energy, Iraq, Immigration, Healthcare, and Economic Issues.

Apparently if I was American and paying attention, I'd vote for John Edwards *phew* Hillary Clinton came out second on my list; I thought I was going to die if the survey told me I should vote for that harridan. Bill Richardson was my #3 and I have no idea who he is (followed by Barack Obama).

I'm def pro-immigration. I still don't want to settle in the USA for the long term, but am very much of the opinion that other people should be able to if they want. And if you don't have foreign labour, who's going to mop your floors, pick your oranges, and win all your Nobel Prizes for you? *runs away*