Jeff Ooi revealed that the DAP has announced his candidacy for the Jelutong parliamentary seat in Malaysia’s impending 12th General Election. I am throwing my support behind him not because he is a fellow blogger nor the fact that he is from the DAP. Jeff has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he dares to speak out without fear or favour on pertinent issues affecting the nation through his blog way before he joined the DAP. It is that courage that I hope he will bring into the Parliament should he be elected. We need people like him to ensure accountability, transparency and good governance in the administration of our country’s affairs. Go Jeff! Malaysia needs more courageous people like you.

There is a sudden spike in this blog’s traffic today. The entry with the most hits according to WordPress’s Blog Stat is Earthquake In Penang Update. That was the worst tremblor that I experienced when I literally saw the main door rattling like someone was desperately knocking on it from outside trying to get in. I knew it was an earthquake and wondered if the building would collapse as I felt the floor swaying like never before.

The previous one was on Boxing Day in 2004 when an earthquake with a magnitude of between 9.1 to 9.3 in the Richter scale shook Sumatra and caused the mother of all tsunamis in recent times. The waves decimated coastal villages from Acheh to Sri Lanka to Madagascar in the African continent. It was the greatest disaster many of us had known in our lives.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck off the western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island close to Simeulue island at 4.08pm just now, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). A tsunami warning was issued. This was the cause of the spike in traffic. People were looking for information on “earthquake” and “Penang”. That page came out topmost in Google for those two keywords. I pray that no lives are lost in this calamity. The people in Sumatra have suffered enough from previous earthquakes.

For people who are living in high-rise buildings, it is imperative to evacuate at the earliest possible opportunity. There are a few safety tips that people who are caught in an earthquake should observe. I have summarised them into 12 points in an entry titled Earthquake: What To Do. That was in 2004. I knew that I could not evacuate like other people and I thought it would be good increase my chances of surviving a devastating earthquake by reading up on measures that I should take in such instances.

The dry and hot weather is slowly but surely sucking the energy out of me. Help!

Is the Malaysian education system churning out students who have poor understanding of the English Language and lack critical analysis skills? I would like to believe this is not the case but the three comments by two bloggers in my previous entry titled I Am Not Voting For The Opposition proves otherwise. Since the Parliament was dissolved and the polling date set, I have been gripped by election fever together with the rest of the nation. This is like one grand celebration that happens only once every five years that everyone can participate in. This is also an event that will determine who will run the country and ultimately decides on the direction that our nation will take for the next half decade.

The excitement got me to thinking about the various political parties and the manifestos that they will be presenting to the electorate. In my mind, the Barisan Nasional (BN) had always been the ruling party and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) the opposition. Several bloggers have also written about why they will vote for the opposition. Then it struck me that once the Parliament is dissolved, we no longer have a ruling party and an opposition party. Every political party now starts afresh and are equals in standing, hypothetically, that is. Subsequently, any party, be it the BN, DAP or PAS, that has a majority in the Parliament can become the next ruling party.

As for me, I said I will neither vote for the ruling party nor the opposition party because those two no longer exist. There are only political parties that are vying to become the next ruling party and form the next government. The one with the lesser seats will have to be contented with becoming the opposition party. I will vote for any political party or candidate that respects the rights and dignity of the people that they will be governing for another term. I will vote for a candidate that will walk his talk. That was what I wrote in my election manifesto. Therefore, how the two bloggers came to the conclusion that I will not be voting in this general election is perplexing indeed.

Yes, you read right. I am not voting for the opposition. I am also not voting for the ruling party. After the dissolution of the Parliament, there is no longer a ruling party. There is only a caretaker government consisting of the former ruling party that is the Barisan Nasional that administers the country during the interim until a new government is formed after the election. After the dissolution of the Parliament on February 13, there is no longer an opposition party, too. The political parties or coalition of political parties in Malaysia are on the same footing now. Each of them that contests in the general election has the potential to form the next government and become the ruling party if they win sufficient seats in the Parliament. So yes, lets cast our votes for the party that has the interest of our nation and her people at heart. The choice is ours. Right or wrong, we will have to live with that choice for the next five years.