Eunice’s Hulu Selangor Diary (Day 4): Restless and Ruminating

A lawyer chronicles her adventures as a political campaigner for Parti Keadilan Rakyat in the upcoming Hulu-Selangor by-election.

(Day 1): Armour, Shield, & Sword

(Day 2): Nomination Day

(Day 3): On the Ground

Day 4: Restless and Ruminating (the back seat observer)

Something came up and I could not go to Hulu Selangor tonight. Disappointed? Extremely, and that goes without saying. Especially when yet another earth shattering news spreads across the media that Dr. Halili Rahmat has defected – this had shocked me. He was there when Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced our candidate the night of April 13, 2010 just last week. I remembered that Dato’ Seri had even introduced him to the crowd as one of the fighters for Keadilan and that the crowd cheered for him!

I can’t possibly blame him for leaving the party. If you’re not happy where you are, there really isn’t any point in staying. There is always the freedom of choice that everyone is entitled to. But still, an inevitable sigh creeps out. He has been there through thick and thin and he leaves now? When the party needs support (his more than mine, that’s for sure) the most? It is disheartening.

I left early last night, but I heard today that the rest had stayed until 4.00a.m. to set up flags. I hope that I will see more flags when I go down next.

Keeping the grounds clean on nomination day.

Then, repeatedly in Twitter and on various news portals, the issue of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and his drinking days crops up. Who cares? Who appointed us as moral police anyway? Maybe it is easy for me to say since I’m not a Muslim. But a different perspective never hurt anyone. It is different of course if he is an alcoholic, which can affect his work. Nonetheless, if he is honest about drinking before, he is honest that he has repented. Personally, he has gained credibility by admitting that he has drank before and thereby, being unpopular, but truthful.

As much as I’d like to go on and on about my party, I have my two cents to say about P. Kamalanathan as well. I like it very much that when asked what he thought of his opponent, he said “no comment,” instead of trash-talking against Zaid.

Anyhow, whoever wins this Sunday, you have to install brighter street lights. The lighting is horrible – you can hardly see a junction without high beams.

They would sigh with me. From left, Izwan (he was given a hamper during our Mesyuarat Agung for being the only one who signed up for lifetime membership with PKR), Azihan (Setiausaha, who never complains about his phone bill for text message blasting informing of events), Zaki (the humble and very capable treasurer), Khaliq (who was there since the beginning of time) and of course Jafrien (Ketua AMK Gombak - juggling between PKR, work, and his family, with hardly any sleep)

That's my favorite YB, second after Dato' Seri of course. No offence boss, I hope.

LoyarBurok Note: Read more from Eunice at her blog.

Tags: Angkatan Muda KeADILan, Anwar Ibrahim, Dr. Halili Rahmat, Hulu Selangor by-election, P. Kamalanathan, PKR, Zaid Ibrahim

Posts by Eunice Ong

Posted on 20 April 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.

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