Malaysians unite to help each other #PulangMengundi
KUALA LUMPUR: When the Election Commission (EC) announced on April 10 that the 14th general election would be held on Wednesday, May 9, a buzz reverberated across social media platforms.
Apart from the concern that the polling day falls at the middle of the week, the other concern among Malaysians is the difficulty in getting the funds to travel back to their voting districts. This is a problem particularly for younger voters who live and work in different states and those who have to travel between East and West Malaysia in order to vote.
The potential difficulty have caused many Malaysians to reconsider undertaking the journey to vote but their fellow countrymen was not about to let them give up so easily.
Netizens across Facebook and Twitter have promptly kicked off a campaign to help fellow Malaysians get to the polling stations on Election Day.
A local daily’s digital editor Joe Lee, on his account @ klubbkiddkl created the hashtag #PulangMengundi (Malay for “return to vote”) to help match donors with registered voters seeking help to return home to vote.
“If you have problems taking time off to vote, or can’t afford to please use the hashtag, and maybe someone can help,” he wrote in his first tweet upon starting the hashtag.
Malaysians across Twitterverse responded by using the #PulangMengundi hashtag to offer help in terms of sponsoring or subsidising transportation costs as well as offering carpool services.
Ganesh Devaraj (@ganaeshd) tweeted: “I know it’s not much, but I should be able to finance up to RM300 to help people #PulangMengundi. Most probably won’t be enough for flight tickets (I’m so sorry!), but it should cover some duit tol/duit tiket bas/duit petrol. Please let me know how I can help.”
Many Malaysians were overwhelmed by the gesture of kindness from strangers. Mekti (@izzatiaziz0315) was one of them.
“People I never met. Never spoken to. Melissa Liew Yean sponsored me to go back for voting! She even gimme extra and keep asking me to spend time with family. I don’t know you, I just know you’re kind-hearted. Proud with Malaysians! [sic],” she wrote.
BFM producer and radio presenter Umapagan Ampikaipakan (@umapagan) tweeted:“The wonderful thing about this #PulangMengundi effort - besides being spontaneous and heartening - is that no one contributing will question who you’re voting for. It’s about the process not the politics.”
Writer Nizam Bakeri (@ nizambakeri) also started a hashtag to connect registered voters heading to the same polling stations: #CarpoolGE14.
Nizam and another Twitter user Syazwani (@AnnieVeeee) later set up the Twitter account @CarpoolGE14 to assist with the process.
A pinned Tweet on the account helps users come up with relevant details needed to find a suitable carpool group and encouraged everyone to use the service, regardless of political inclinations.
“Tak kisah undi siapa, balik mengundi (It does not matter who you want to vote for, as long as you go back to vote,” it said.
The homegrown carpool app Droupr also announced its “Balik dan Undi”(return to vote) campaign after the polling date was announced.
Its chief operating officer and co-founder Naim Ahmad told Bernama that after downloading the app, users could either offer a ride or search for one.
“We are a carpool platform where people can meet up and travel together to the same destination. So if you want to drive out from KL to your voting station in Perlis this coming election, you can find others going the same way while saving money on petrol and toll,” he explained.
Naim said users could also interact with each other to plan out and discuss the trip prior to making it so that they could get acquainted with each other beforehand.
For those concerned about safety, Naim said Droupr took safety and security seriously. The “distress signal” button on the app sends the user’s location immediately to their selected contact in case of emergency.
“Users can also set their own terms and preferences such as for “ladies only” “for smokers” or “pets allowed”,” he said.
The app, launched in 2016, is available on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
The last general election (GE13), held on Sunday, May 5, 2013 saw 84.8 percent voter turnout. Out of the 13,268,002 eligible registered voters, 11,257,151 turned up to cast their ballots. - Bernama