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A colourful GE14

AS expected, the mudslinging matches are vigorously progressing as the 14th General Election (GE14) nears polling on May 9.

Things are hotting up as “wakil rakyat” wannabes and their supporters exchange criticisms on cyberspace and on campaign trails.

If one were to keep score, the amount of insults fired from the opposition, are greater with name-calling and smear campaigns, not only against the Barisan Nasional candidates but also their spouses.

Check them out on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and you will get an idea of how inane, and sometimes, plain mean, some of the criticism are.

In Putrajaya, BN is leading the flag war; one can barely spot the opposition flags, except for a handful that were mounted in between the BN flags and along certain stretches in the administrative capital.

In terms of campaign trails, BN candidate for Putrajaya parliamentary seat incumbent Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor seems to be taking a more direct approach to meet the electorate without having the media shadowing his every move.

His meetings with the people and the BN election machinery are low keyed; the media will only find out about them when his officers post his activities on the WhatsApp group a day after.

In other words, Tengku Adnan has scooped the media fraternity as he and his people have done a good job keeping his movements under tight lid.

Tengku Adnan, in his kain pelikat (checked sarong) and simple shirt, would often join the people for prayers, especially the fajar prayers, at different suraus on a daily basis.

I can understand why Tengku Adnan preferred this low-keyed approach, instead of the typical large gatherings in one location where one has to hold on to a microphone for about an hour and listing out what the party has done and what the opposition has done or not done.

Meeting the rakyat on their own turf is convenient for the people, less hassle to set things up and the people can be more frank when voicing their views to the candidates.

Of course, some will argue the one-on-one approach is limiting the number of people that the candidates can meet, but if the candidates, especially incumbents like Tengku Adnan, have been steadily meeting the people for the past five years, it is not even an issue.

A few days back, several friends discussed the opposition's campaign trails. They noted some common practices by the opposition, including recycling issues to criticise their opponents and meeting the people at small space areas rather than big open spaces like fields and halls.

Why the use of small space, you may ask? The only explanation all of us can agree on — it will look good on photographs or videos! Just imagine, a small space will naturally force those who turn up to listen to what the candidates have to say up close. On photograph or video, it certainly looks as if the gathering was a success with a “good size” crowd, giving the impression that many had turned up to throw support behind the opposition.

This is the beauty of psychological warfare, or as psywar during the election period. GE14 is my fifth general election, and campaign tactics have become quite predictable.

But, I must say, this time around the candidates are quite colourful — particularly TV host and self-styled “diva” Azwan Ali, or Diva AA. A few of my colleagues actually look forward to catching Diva AA’s video clips of his campaign trails, with his barbed remarks. The independent candidate is contesting in the Bukit Antarabangsa state seat against his brother, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, and three others — BN’s Salwa Yunus, Syarifah Hazlizah Syed Ariffin of Pas and Ahmad Kamaruddin (PRM).

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