In the mood for elections

**This video clip marks the official closure of 3lang.blogspot.com**

Production Philosophy by discordantdude
In the mood for elections is my feeble attempt not so much to convey a message but to capture the mood of a particular time period. In other words, I want my audience to feel, to ride on the sentiments of that time – the anger and frustration, the activism and solidarity, the injustice and disappointment, the fear and intimidation; yes, more than anything else in the face of apathy, I want the students to feel, to immerse in the emotions of captured, fragmented moments. But not having a systematic body of content does not mean that I’m neutral. And not being neutral does not mean that I’m wrong. My not being neutral means that I am also inclined to feel a certain way about student politics, and to hold to certain normative convictions about elections.

Set in University Malaya in 2005, I have intentionally waited for my release from the UUCA (University and University College Act) before producing this short movie. I have also strategically chosen to do this after the 2006 elections in order not to be caught up with the hype that so often distorts good intentions. Besides that, I have kept it below 10 minutes because I have plans to upload it online and make it more publicly available. My hope is that “In the mood for elections” will not be used as a piece of propaganda but as a launch pad to feel, to think, and to dialogue. While the production of this movie is solely my responsibility, this effort will not be possible without the total initiative by contributors of the 3lang project and all who have shown support to its cause. While 3lang is sort of dysfunctional now, I have not ceased to dream that one day students can once again mobilize and organize themselves in an open, civil, and democratic manner.

Sypnosis by bohtea
Call it the annual ‘sandiwara’- but campus elections held in public universities nationwide capture both the fascination and criticism of many each year. The alleged fights, and sleazy conspiracies are enough to make a soap opera a runaway success, but these are no mere plots made for television. The campus elections are known to be micro schisms of the country’s general elections, and launching pad for aspiring politicians. No wonder there are many who are willing to get their hands dirty over who sits in the student council each year.

Year 2005 was not an exceptional year- the pro-administrative students or notoriously known as the “Aspirasi” were set to make a clean sweep at the campus elections again. But 2 decades of clamping down opposing student movements has fanned enough flames to call for reformation in student politics.

However, with a hostile campus climate and the University and University College Act-a design to diffuse students from becoming a prominent political force; reformation is expected to be difficult, laborious; even bloodied. Will university students ever succeed in instigating any change?

“In the mood of elections” is a humble invitation to the Malaysian society to think, reflect and dialogue on the democratic processes of the country.

Watch the intense drama, frustrations and sentiments as university students wrestle for a week to win- not just votes, but ideals; to capture- not just hearts, but minds; to elect-not just people, but justice, as fore runners to campus elections.

High jinks in student politics?

Try asking any undergraduates abt campus elections and you get soppy tales of struggles for the canteen-la, for the toilet-la, for projectors-la, for air-cond-la, for white board markers-la, etc. Another Mahathirian-legacy of preoccupation with infrastructure (I wonder what else can the past administration boast of besides its megalomaniac nation-building [read literally] policies addicted with the biggest and the tallest). Yep, in this sense, campus elections bores me! Its trivialities dull me! That's why when I read the first paragraph, I know I'm gonna like this article...

"Student politics bores me. Nothing can be more soul-numbing than a bunch of young people whining about the poor food in their colleges or the lack of parking spaces for the cars that daddy bought them." Read on High jinks in student politics? Azmi Sharom

What next?

This blog has been pretty quiet since the campus elections ended, but it's not dead yet. Yet ;)

I've been contemplating on what to do next with this space we've created and what other issues that 3lang can focus on.

At the meantime, pls feel free to browse through the resources we've collected on the campus elections while we work on our examinations.

Cheers!

Aspirasi throwing free t-shirts to the crowd (video)

Check out here

Circus in KPS

While newspapers reported that the campus elections went smoothly, it wasn't all well, nice and civilized the night before the results were announced.

It started with Gagasan supporters singing their theme song and yelling their party cheer, overpowering the voice of the Aspirasi supporters. Then, one of the Aspirasi leaders incited the crowd by asking his supporters to shout: Gagasan, bodoh! The event got uglier with jeers and provocative slogans from both sides.

When Aspirasi ushered in a group of Indian drummers who was not from the university, Gagasan people took out their matrix cards and shouted "Penceroboh" urging the authorities to remove them from the hall. One of the HEP officers gave orders for the park guards and student-police to lead the drummers out when another HEP officer got angry that Gagasan non-student supporters were not given the same treatment. After a heated exchange between the both officers, all non-student supporters were asked to leave the hall.

Another ugly event was when Aspirasi began throwing free T-shirts to the crowd and giving out Malaysian flags to their supporters. Gagasan took out RM notes, waved them at Aspirasi and chanted "Rasuah... rasuah..." Some even tore their money and threw it at the crowd. A fight almost broke out when one Gagasan member showed a paper with the word "Ugut" when an Aspirasi member nearby grabbed the paper from him causing all the nearby Gagasan supporters to surround him and yelled at him. This caused reactions from the Aspirasi side who rushed to the scene wanting to help before the authorities intervened.

Emotions were intense but the hostility toned down when both sides got tired after having to wait for the results till the wee hours of the morning.

What the papers say

News on the campus elections:

Varsity student polls prove a damp affair. -The Star

Campus polls: A tame affair but irregularities abound -malaysiakini

Boycott of polls in five varsities -malaysiakini

Undergrad seeks judicial review -New Straits Times

MPP: Proaspirasi kuasai semua 17 IPTA -Utusan Malaysia

Results

Opposition lost both umum and fakulti. Only won the seats in API (Akademi Pengajian Islam). Circus in KPS. Recount for Alam Bina - opposition lost by 8 votes. Longest vote count ever - from 430pm - 3am approximately with one hour break in between.

Too sleepy for details. More later.

a dinner and prayer break from counting the votes. counting resumed at 8pm. vote counting is carried out in every college. the votes of students staying outside the campus are counted in Auditorium Perdanasiswa (pic).

college students lining up to vote in Second College. rumours circulated among the freshies that they will be kicked out of college in the second semester if they do not vote accordingly (i.e. for Aspirasi candidates). such veiled 'threats' are also circulated in other colleges.

Local varsity student council elections not ready to be monitored?

Complaints over campus polls KUALA LUMPUR, Wed.

Suhakam has received complaints that student-body elections carried out on campuses across the country are not being conducted fairly, Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mohd Hamdan Adnan said today.
The complaints include intimidation and other transgressions.He said there were also complaints of high-handedness by university authorities in the 2005/2006 campus elections."The students are requesting the elections be organised by an independent committee in a fair and just manner," Hamdan added.He cited several charges listed by the students against the officials in University Malaya, UiTM and Universiti Utara Malaysia.Hamdan said that Suhakam had held discussions with all the deputy vice-chancellors of public universities last month."All they said was that the issue would be brought to their respective vice-chancellors’ attention because they were the ones with the proper authority to make decisions regarding this matter," he said.On Sept 13, Suhakam also requested permission from 17 universities and colleges to monitor the process of their campus elections. To date, only five universities have replied, referring Suhakam to the Higher Education Ministry for permission.The ministry had yet to provide an official reply to Suhakam, Hamdan said.
(As reported in NST on the 29th of September)

Forced to vote

News on local campuses elections

Does this picture look familiar? Hehe... MALVU expressing their concern on local campuses elections. More info here.


USM VC - Elections in other campuses below standards!
"We want to maintain a clean sheet as reported by the Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) last year that the elections at USM were above board compared to other universities," he (USM VC Zulkifli) said...

Read more here.

It's HOLIDAY!!!

Finally a piece of good news!? ;)

From the grapevine, we heard that this notice was issued by the Ministry to all the faculties. Another indication of the politicization of our campus.

Leaflet from Abang Conteng

This leaflet was found in the campus and the author of this leaflet is Abang Conteng.

We don't know who is Abang Conteng

But according to Abang Conteng, he stated that GAGASAN says that the campus fees are raised so he invstigated whether it is true or not. Eventually Abang Conteng found out that it is because this semester is longer than the previous semester so students are required to pay more.

In the last 2 paraghraph, Abg Conteng said:

...Kerajaan kita dah membiayai setiap daripada kita ni. ASPIRASI atau MGMUM yang ada ni menyokong kerajaan di bawah pimpinan Pak Lah sepenuhya! Bukan macam Gagasan yang buat fitnah merata-rata.

Abang Conteng percaya MGMUM atpu ASPIRASI mampu untuk menjadi platform yang terbaik kat UM untuk mewakili kita semua sebagi mahasiswa berintelektual.

p/s: SOKONG GABUNGAN(aspirasi) dan TOLAK GAGASAN.

(Look at the first picture)

Atmosphere in Faculty of Arts and Social Science

Pictures are taken from Arts Faculty, UM

Candidates are busy drawing votes. One can easily see them around dataran sastera and in the cafeteria. Highlighted posters are everywhere.

Boycott in five varsities : Indictment against unfair campus elections

As we all know, 3lang has received news that the anti-establishment faction from five local varsities, UIA, UPM, UTM, USM and UPSI decided to boycott this year's campus elections by refusing to put up any candidates during the nomination day. More info here.

Also, a politician's denial of interfering with local campus polls here.