Conversations with Grey

We won!

“We won!!!”

Yes. We’ve won.

We, the minority, the underdog, the neglected, the little people, the non-NEP nourished, the activists, the artists, the free minds, the oppressed, the ignored, the betrayed, the conned, the employees, the labourers, the beaten, the jailed, the silenced, the innocent, the accused, the bloggers, the victim - the rakyat.

A new dawn has begun. Let’s hope we don’t fuck it up like the previous government did.

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I was in the papers. My second minute of fame. This isn’t actually my first time to be featured in a newspaper. I was once the cover for a pull-out section (even if it only displayed the back of my head and part of my face, nerr). And yes, the picture was staged. I mean, I wasn’t really writing notes or interviewing R.Sivarasa. Fahmi was. He’s the real deal. He really was doing the real interviewing. He’s great. When Niki (the writer of the article) wanted a picture of me alone, I refused. *Sorry lah Niki. Shy lah* So he suggested a group picture instead. Got to admit that it turned out better lor.

So yes, I volunteered to help out with Sivarasa’s campaign. I was with the media team a few nights, did some campaigning, followed him around, said some chinese slogans and encouraging words through the load-hailer (eventhough my mandarin sucked and I didn’t know what I was saying, I wrote down pin yin on a paper and read it like a religious mantra).

It’s my first time volunteering and campaigning for a political party. It’s scary as hell, but damn, it’s exciting. And heartening to see people genuinely want to hear what you have to say and show their support in return. It’s great. I had to be really thick skinned also lah, to approach people and interview them, and having turned down numerous time. But once you get the hang of it and get turned down a certain number of times, you get used to it. Much like riding the bike… or anything else in life. Oooh and wearing a sunglasses helps [a bit of Big Daddy reference here].

I went to different ceramahs, interviewing uncles and aunties about their views. I took [some] pictures of the campaigning trail and housing areas we went to. I went leafleting house to house. I drove around in my car that was draped with the party flag and greeting residents along the way while shouting insults to future-rempits on bicycle with the BN flag ‘kita ada kereta woiii‘.

And I’m really glad Sivarasa won. He’s really a good person and I believe he could really do some good to the community. [See his history and track record on his webbie] I was at the counting hall on Saturday night, after the polls closed. I waited outside with the band of PKR supporters until the EC people announced Elizabeth’s victory. We cheered but kept it low key too because like what Fahmi said on the loud-hailer,

“Ini kawasan perumahan, ya. Dah pukul sebelas malam. Ada orang nak tido, ada yang nak tengok HBO.”

But after waiting nearly two hours for the EC to announce Sivarasa’s victory, a bunch of rempits appeared out of nowhere. They approached the supporters (us) and stood next to us intimidatingly lah. So fearing that they might be here to cause a ruckus, because they really do look like they were, the supporters (us) walked away down the road towards the entrance of the hall where there were policemen. The bikers, with their skinny jeans and skinny leather jackets and helmets in their hands followed us without saying a thing. All they did were looked at us, what we were carrying, whether we had bags or umbrellas or cameras, and eyeing their friends back.

A bunch of us freaked, and chose to leave before anything untowardly may happen. While Mr.Eminent and I walked towards our car leaving, two of them rempits on a bike followed us, and rode passed us. Then they made a u-turn [macam our Election Commission] as we got into my car, and rode pass us again. Fuck shit. I was wearing my cK jeans and DKNY watch. I wasn’t really into damaging them in an event of a fight or careless flee.

Anyway, nothing happened. Clearly they were there to cause fear. But I guess with the police’s presence (more than 10 cars of them), the rempits didn’t dare do anything lah.

So there you go. My experience campaigning and supporting a political party. It comes once every four/five years. You can never get a chance like that again. A chance to witness history, to be a part of history. It’s amazing.

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One thing that I wanted to share about this experience is my initial worry, reservation and doubt of wanting to volunteer. Read about ‘why’ I volunteered in Niki’s article but when I got the called, I really wanted to say no. I wanted to give another instant excuse (just add water) and shrug the whole thing off. In a matter for 5 seconds, I thought about what my parents will say, what my friends will say and what will become of me, if the situation get dangerous, or this decision reflect poorly on my judgement or that I will end up in the civil judiciary records or not. Then casting those thoughts all away, I thought this is one of the best chance I have to matter. I mean, to really REALLY matter. By not being a registered voter, does not mean I cannot vote. I can vote, and by creating awareness to five or ten people, I would’ve already voted five or ten times.

Immediately, I thought about how can I take sick leave to volunteer during the day time, or maybe skipping dinner to drive 45 minutes (20 minutes lah actually) to the bilik gerakan or a ceramah, or procrastinate my freelance projects, or lying to my parents (again). Eventually, I figured it all out (except lying to my parents), threw up caution to the wind and said yes. All in a matter of minutes.

What I’m trying to say is that, sometimes when people overthink, things don’t happen. And I am one of those people, always trying to play it safe. I try, whenever I can, not to. Because I learnt that life is all about risks. Ask any businessman [and politicians apparently]. And life is about living it your own way. Ask any artists. Say things that you want to say, make your little voice heard in this deafening world. If you constantly filter yourself or think too thoroughly before speaking your mind, your voice becomes not yours anymore. I’m speaking in terms of self expression lah. Calling some fat lady a whale to her face is plain rude and stupid.

So end word, just go ahead and do it. Or do it already. What you’ve always wanted to do.