• IT’S not always easy to be a writer, just as it’s never easy to be a politician, because there’s usually so much expected from you; as if society cannot go on without you. 
• Over the last 12 months, our police have shown their true grit and dealt with gangsterism in the most effective manner, thanks also to the incumbent BN MP for Bintulu Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who had dare raise the issues both inside and outside Parliament.

My editor, for one, can testify to this. As the leader of the pack, he has to juggle his responsibilities between his charges (the editorial team) and the public (usually the powers that be and the more discerning readers who do expect their one ringgit worth of newspaper).

The editor is an administrator of sort as well, attending to other staff matters not related to the business of writing, namely, how much to pay a new recruit or an old hand who has decided to join his ship, and what responsibilities to assign him etc.

The editor himself must at least have some idea of what the management expects of him.

So the duties and responsibilities are indeed onerous. While the reading public know there’s more they can expect to find to read in the columns of the newspaper when the elections are on, a good editor’s job is to make sure there is some semblance of fair and balanced reporting, again because of the expectations of a more enlightened and better educated society.

You just can’t force downright sheer propaganda down their throats. Members of society are far more intelligent now to be able to differentiate between the chaff and the grain. So, as the Americans would put it, it’s a hell of a job really for the newspaper editor trying to run a good newspaper.

In the days ahead, the focus will obviously be on the matter of the general election, starting with who is going to be dropped, who to take over their seats etc. In a way, this is rather unfortunate because one would expect, other than the issue of candidates alone, the focus to be more on policies of the parties — how, on a collective basis, they intend to carry this country forward and how individually when elected, a candidate would prioritise matters in his constituency.

We already know that in Peninsular Malaysia, the country’s ruling coalition (with Umno as the backbone) is intent not only to try and secure a two-third majority in Parliament and the states, repeating its 2004 performance, but also to wrest Kelantan back from PAS.

A lot too is being focused on what the Election Commission is doing to get ready for nomination day (Feb 24) and polling day (March  .

But is the fact that this is going to be the most expensive election ever organised known to many? And why has it to cost so much of tax-payers’ money to organise? Have we gone behind the scene to find out what’s actually being done to justify such high expenses?

Originally, words were that nomination would be on Feb 22 and polling on March 2. The EC decided however to allow political parties a longer period for campaigning. Interesting.

The other face of the EC is not always presented to the public — the men and women who toil day and night to prepare for the elections, making sure the nomination forms are ready, the officers are stationed where they are required, ensure election campaign rules are observed by all parties and individuals concerned, and that the polling teams are ready when the big day comes.

The last is probably the most difficult as some places may be remote and only accessible by helicopter, even if it only means ensuring that a handful of people get to exercise their rights as voters.

Urban voters may appear more visible as they are more easily accessible to the media, but this does not mean that rural and coastal areas are less exciting or challenging.

In fact, there is a different type of campaigning style in coastal and rural areas. The reading public does not often get the opportunity to ‘see’ much of the campaigning in areas outside the cities and towns, except for speeches made at selected rallies that are sometimes reported. They are made against the background of a different setting and slightly different issues (bread-and-butter issues count more in longhouses and kampungs) but are no less interesting and exciting to the rural and coastal audience.

While the outcome in rural and coastal areas is generally more predictable, the same cannot always be said of urban areas where the so-called elite, better off and better educated citizens reside.

The Prime Minister and head of the federal BN Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is probably the first PM of this country to call a general election about one and a half years before the term expires, decided to do so as it could be worse (for the BN) to delay it further, as some opposition leaders would like to think so.

To BN leaders, this is the best time for the BN because of the surfacing of many issues and challenges.

In his own way, the PM can feel or sense the pulse of the nation; just what the issues are, apart from corruption, that are of utmost concern to the people: rising prices, rising crime and communal sentiments.

Hopefully while the electorate are expected to pick on the parties and candidates they consider most suitable, there will be a debate across the nation on how the issues mentioned ought to be addressed by the government of the day in the most effective way. That is to enlighten the public and allay feelings about a perceptibly worsening security situation of a different kind.

One could recall in the 1960s, the major issue then was security, namely, the threat from the underground Communist organisations and their members, many of whom had organised themselves into guerrilla units in the jungle.

Today, we are confronted with a different kind of security problem. It reminds us of some of the unsafe streets in many cities in the West; streets that have, to all intents and purposes, been taken over by gangs imposing their own law and order to force people to pay protection money, or to maim and kill if anyone resists.

Over the last 12 months, our police have shown their true grit and dealt with gangsterism in the most effective manner, thanks also to the incumbent BN MP for Bintulu Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who had dare raise the issues both inside and outside Parliament.

No wonder even the opposition parties are reluctant to go and fight in Bintulu! There are reports that even the opposition Dayak-based Sarawak National Party (SNAP) is contemplating giving the parliamentary elections a miss in order to strengthen itself from within first, to prepare perhaps for the next state election.

Hopefully parties and candidates will take a cue from the Prime Minister’s recent statement on what he sees are the issues in this coming election, and will make their views and stand known — how such issues ought to be addressed in addition to what is already being done, or where the authorities have failed in addressing issues that had led to the present situation.

Have we got down to the roots of all these problems or are we, again trying to sweep the problems under the carpet or grasping the wrong end of the stick in trying to find real solutions?

Hopefully the media will lead and encourage the debate, because we need to deal with real issues and challenges facing society, during and after elections, as they are of growing concern to the public.

Of course, we must talk about our progress and achievements and the many grandiose plans for Sarawak and Malaysia, but let’s not forget that the foundation for progress and prosperity is important and needs to be strengthened, as a house built on loose or weak foundation is not going to stand solidly.

This, I figure, is the over-riding consideration before we start (as a matter of speaking) to ‘bash’ one another in the days or weeks ahead!