GE15 an eye-opening experience for first-time polling agents
The recently concluded 15th General Election (GE15) has been a worthwhile experience for first-time polling agents Lulu Law, Shusheel Kaur, Natasha Hezner and Aloysius Claudius.
Relating her experience, Lulu said she and her team had to be at the polling centre at SJK (C) Chung Hua Pending by 6am on Nov 19 for the final preparation – in making sure that the streams or classrooms were well-prepared and organised for the big day.
“I had just come back from my working trip with Shusheel to Ba Kelalan the day before the election (Nov 18),” Lulu said.
“Despite the exhaustion from the one-week trip, we told ourselves that it would be a very good eye-opening experience. Not everyone will have the opportunity to be involved in the GE15 process and this is too good to be missed,” she added.
Shusheel, meanwhile, said the whole voting process went smoothly as the voters seemed to know what to do.
“Even when it comes to vote counting, all of us managed to do it pretty well without any problems and the polling agents from political parties were very cooperative too,” she said.
Natasha, who was assigned to read out name and identification number of every single voter who came to vote, said she had to go through the voters’ list meticulously.
“I have to make sure that each and every detail is correct. The vote counting part is, however, a lot easier,” she commented.
Aloysius, also a first-timer, said he was assigned together with a senior colleague, Calvin Yeo, a presiding officer, to check on all final preparations at the polling station at Kuching South City Council’s (MBKS) Dewan Masyarakat on Nov 18.
Yeo, according to Aloysius, is an experienced election agent. They were both stationed at MBKS’s Community Hall from as early as 5am until almost 10pm on Nov 19.
“It was definitely a very long day, from 5am when we reached Dewan Masyarakat MBKS to almost 10pm before both of us were released by the returning officer after everything we submitted was verified,” said Aloysius.
“It is worth the experience,” he added.
Yeo, on the other hand, said he was glad that everything went well on the Election Day.
“The election process was very smooth and we did not encounter any problems which could disrupt the whole democratic process.
“Everyone was very mature, with no untoward incidents. This is something that all of us must be proud of as Malaysians,” said Yeo.
The five colleagues who are currently employed by the Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda) said they would not mind if they were to be called to serve as polling agents in future elections.