16 The Englishmen who founded the MCA
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My love affair with Malaysia
Building Polling Agents machinery
I have always been interested in the political situation in Malaysia ever since I was little, with particular passion for those detailed results of general elections pullout pages in the newspapers. I remember being brought to an election rally at age six in 1969. I remember following my mother to the voting booth in 1974. I remember analysing the 1978 results at age fifteen. Following elections has always been in my blood but it took until my last work contract ending just days after Parliament was dissolved in 2013 before I got involved. I volunteered to help out at the local party offices and it just snowballed from there. I chose to work with the peoples of the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak to build machineries where no one was likely to help. It was also my way of learning about the parts of my country which many others around me only saw through condescending tourist eyes.
What I have done for PACAs
(PACAs are Polling Agents Counting Agents)
Heading towards a Malaysian Malaysia
General Elections 2013
After my last work contract ended just days after Parliament was dissolved, I walked into the local party office and volunteered. The lady there took one look at me and said "You could be a PACA trainer". I asked what a PACA was and had to explain I had no PACA knowledge or experience but she said, "You will be OK". I eventually signed up to attend PACA training at my local constituency and the PACA coordinator there said to me, "You can be a station master." "But I have never even been a PACA", I protested but I ended up leading PACAs in a small polling station. It was my introduction but, typical of me: after seeing how PACA machinery work, I started to imagine how the processes could be improved, not just the PACA process itself but the way they were to be organised. I realised that even when my polling station voted overwhelmingly for change, change will not come as long as the rest of the country lacked the knowledge, organisation and temperament to seek and defend the idea of change. In elections, it was always the campaigning that get all the interest and resources; PACA work really only starts after nomination day. Feeling it was an overlooked but critical part of winning elections, I decided to focus on building permanent PACA machineries in places where they were most needed.
Teluk Intan By elections 2014
I got a call from Rajiv, my local assemblyman in PJ just two days after nomination day to ask if I could help with recruiting PACAs for the by-election in 10 days time, as nothing was done on the ground at that stage. I said I probably could round up 30 people. My phone number and email went round Klang Valley and within a week, I had 70 persons signed up and trained, with all their paperwork submitted. I had daily calls with the election agent, Howard (who later became my boss) and eventually he trusted me enough to let PJ PACAs manage four stations entirely. When I finally arrived on site, I had to mediate between inflated egos of party leaders who have descended on the by-election, each seeking a role for their presence. It was quite a task but nothing diplomacy and problem-solving skills could not handle. I also had the opportunity to observe the workings of PACA administration at close quarters and the stress of having to organise everything in the very short window of time. We lost by just a few votes but it was in the cauldron of that by-election that the basic principles governing the roles of the station master and the PACA coordinator were established in my mind, together with the basic management and people skills they needed to have in their roles.
Sarawak State Elections 2016
Deciding that the urban areas were pretty well served, I chose to work in the areas that nobody wanted to go - the interiors of Borneo. With the Sarawak elections looming, I started with talking to the local party leaders to persuade them of the approach to build permanent PACA machineries. Just getting a grudging non-commitment meant I was able to travel to the interiors with a makeshift mandate. Self-funded monthly trips to Sarawak gave me the opportunity to sell the idea of building machineries. Taking the better part of a week each trip, I ran up to eight training and talks each visit, eventually reaching more than half the constituencies the party contested in. Along the way, I learnt a lot about the many local cultures and started to dream of linking up the two halves of my country, helping each one understand the other and educating middle class Malaysians that the way we think is not representative of ,the whole country. On my visit for the elections itself, I had to leave the state before Election Day, being already on the blacklist. But my work was done in Sarawak and I spent Election Day at home answering queries from all over the state. It was enlightening to see Malaysia as she really is and how much work to do to help her grow into the nation that she could be.
General Elections 2018
Leaving election fatigue behind in Sarawak, I started working in the interiors of Sabah, again making monthly trips to build the machinery. It was rewarding working with KadazanDusun & Muruts, again learning the culture and how they differ from Sarawakians and peninsular Malaysians. I was proud that one team I guided reached the point of being able to train their own PACAs and assess their own progress & risks as well as track discrepancies in their electoral roll. Meanwhile, we started recruiting PJ PACAs to go to Borneo. trained in cultural understanding and sensitivity. For election day, we deployed over 200 PJ PACAs to nine locations in Peninsular and Borneo, all self-funded and self-organised. We worked with local PACA machinery, some which we have trained, and in one case, we took over the machinery itself. We redeployed PACAs at short notice to locations that needed them most, supplying the administration to do so ourselves. On election day, I was in Tenom and had to take care of my newborn while tending to PACA queries from all over Malaysia while my Sabahan wife was on PACA duty. It wasn't easy with my phone and email hacked & rendered unusable: apparently, I was on the targeted list. It was an exhausting day but it all worth it and change began in Malaysia.
Resources I have Developed
These are PACA material that I have developed over the years and I will endeavour to keep them updated as long as I can. You will see the version number and the date on each slide (last updated 1 Feb 2022). These slides are intended to give broad guidance to the legal and practical aspects to PACA administration. There are other approaches to PACAs other than those set out here - focussed only on PACAs alone, or more technical and legal approaches. I would advice you to read up as broadly as possible, speaking to as many people as possible and from there you can decide which approach, or combination of approaches, is best for your circumstances. I am keen that I can help you build the PACA machinery you may need by standing on my shoulders and my experience. Therefore, please feel free to download any of these material and amend them as required to suit your purpose. These material do not belong to me any more - I only wrote them and am merely the custodian on behalf of a brighter Malaysia. If you need advice on specific techniques in high risk areas, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Running a government agency
Pusat Aspirasi Anak Perak - Perak State Youth agency
After the 2018 general elections, Howard, a friend of mine, asked me to help him set up his office as the state minister for youth and sports in Perak state. We found one of his state agencies in dire situation with alleged financial improprieties, and after conducting the investigation, I took over the running of the agency that turned out to be a debt-ridden tool of politicians.
The young but motivated workforce did not believe management could listen to them, but after their views were Incorporated into the youth strategy for the state as well as being treated with respect, they quickly reversed the common notion of government workers as lazy and incompetent. I am proud of this bunch of youngsters, who willingly worked hard to execute our programs during late hours and weekends, and quickly earned a reputation for getting programs done, inviting praises from leaders but furtive glances from other departments.
Finances stabilised and returned a surplus in the first year, cutting costs while expanding programs. Focus was placed on maintaining a clear strategic direction, increasing cost-effective execution capabilities, staff participation and motivation, and engaging with stakeholders to implement programs needed by the community.
Our efforts were acknowledged with an increase of our budget and scope of work. Eventually, the chief minister appointed as as the coordinating body for the state TVET initiative, taking us beyond our initial youth scope.
Professionally, this job brought together all I have learnt in my career & validated my views on people-centric management practices. It also taught me about other cultures of Malaysia and why we ended up in the divided mentalities that we are now in. It confirms my belief that the only way to build a nation is for us to talk to one another at a personal level, so that peoples of different views and histories can see each other as people. And at a personal level, my family & I had great fun in this job.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end and when the new government took over in the 2020 political crisis, I was asked to vacate office. But I remain committed to reaching out to the other Malaysia so that one day this country could become a single nation of our dreams.
My Blog on Malaysian History
The history of Malaysia and the story of its many peoples is eminently fascinating and far more interesting than the history we were taught in schools. In this series, I hope to provide Malaysians and our friends overseas with an understanding of the origins of the different aspects of the country today. History is not something that belongs to a dead past: it is not dead and often it is not even in the past. It is important that we can relate stories in our history to the reality that is continuing to happen around us and so, enable us to act with understanding because understanding is always the starting point for solving the problems of the country today. So, I hope you enjoy this voyage of discovery and please let me have input on what you read and any questions you may have.
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