Announcement of the Nomination and Election Dates CONFIRMED!

With rumours swirling around which dates it is, we just have to wait the announcement of the EC which is currently in meeting now in Putrajaya. The nation awaits in anticipation.

LATEST:

Nomination Date: 20 April 2013

ELECTION DATE: 5 MAY 2013

BN Manifesto for GE 13

Ah...Finally the BN manifesto is out! Well, it is as below:

http://manifestopru13.com/bahasainggeris.php

In general, I think that the manifesto is more detailed compared to past GE as Pakatan now has a more comprehensive manifesto. However, it is also still pretty vague. And its money galore: more BR1Ms, etc etc. 

Also it exposes some hypocrisies here and there. Also the failure to give a definite numbers to certain proposal (leaving it open to the extend that '1' is an achievement). Also for the PR1MA home programme, a million homes in 5 years? It's a bit far-fetched and the fact that it will be priced 20% below market price leaves it open for debate (for 500k houses). If prices surge, it will also be painful to the potential house seekers especially those just in the job market. 

Of course BN has put in some figures on road contructions, etc, but it is just not enough. A lot of wishy washy things up in the air (not to say that Pakatan manifesto has no holes in it) and you have been the goverment for more than 50 years. Some of the issues should have been solved donkey years ago and not trying to solve it now. 

Now, it really boils down to the fact that the BN only listens a little to the people only after the last bashing they got from the rakyat. If they had won 2/3 last round, sorry. No handouts, no listening and probably they will say ,'you gave us the mandate, now YOU listen to ME'. 

So folks, please if you intend to keep BN in power, just give them the same number of seats or lower so that they will work harder. 

 

PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED!

Finally after a long long wait, the parliament is finally dissolved. At 11:30 am on 3 April 2013 (Not 2012 as mentioned by our honorable PM - of course TV3 as usual edited the 2012 to 2013), the parliamentarians of GE 12 has ended their term. So what's next?

The election commission now has to set the dates for nomination of candidates and then the election. This election is a history making of sorts: longest serving PM without an election mandate, the introduction of indelible ink, the marked increase in the number of voters (estimated up to 22% of new voters mainly from the younger generation), etc.

So now the final battles will be fought and a long fought war to win. The Mainstream news and tv channels have begun their usual bombardments of pro-BN adverts and songs while the social media is seeing its share of running battles between pro-Pakatan and pro-BN supporters (the former seeing having the upper hand over the latter in social media). 

With innovations in campaigns such as campaign trucks and buses, introduction of mascot (enter the Ubah bird and the MCA panda - still wondering why MCA should choose a foreign country symbol), internet tv, independent radio transmission for rural areas, etc, it is a very interesting election campaign period. 

The most important is that Malaysians should come out and exercise their right and vote. No point complaining about any side and do not vote. It's time to show both BN and Pakatan who's the boss.