Pakatan shouldn't worry too much about a rainy general election

GE15 is almost certain to be held in the coming weeks.

At least that's the indications according to the latest reports.

Umno has even started to clean up house by throwing out some of its garbage.

Good lah. Hopefully the party will do more of that.

The more Umno get rid of such parasites, the better its chances would be in GE15.

Anyway, I'm now recuperating from my ailment in the East Coast.

Mostly just laying down a lot to rest my body.

It's raining here almost everyday but they were just moderate showers, especially in the late evening or early morning.

Guess the end year monsoon has already started a bit.

Well, the last time we had a general election around this time was in November 1999.

I was living in the north at that time and remember that it was quite wet.

There was no major floods though.

Voters turnout of that general election was 69.3 per cent.

For comparison, voters turnout in the general elections after that are better.  It was 73.9 per cent in 2004, 74.98 per cent in 2008, 84.84 per cent in 2013 and 82.32 per cent in 2018.

The general elections in 2004 and 2008 were held in March while those in 2013 and 2018 were in May.

Did the rain caused the lower turnout in 1999?

Probably.

But then again the turnout of general election in 1995, which was held in April was even lower at 68.3 per cent.

The voters turnout of general election in 1990 was even more interesting. Held on Oct 20 and 21 that year, it was 72.3 per cent, which was just slightly lower than those in 2004 and 2008.

So, it can't be just the rain.

My theory is that it's just because more people became very interested to participate in the political process during the 2013 and 2018 general election.

Who are these people, who became more politically aware the past one decade?

I believe the DAP people know the answer to that better than me.

You know, those who said we don't want to be second, third, fourth or fifth class citizens etc.

Go and ask them, okay.

Well, things have not been very well for them ever since the implosion of the Pakatan government just 22 months after their victory in 2018.

Things have been bad since then with many losing interest in politics as they struggle to make ends meet.

The Covid-19 pandemic and war in. Ukraine had made things worse not only in Malaysia but also the rest of the world.

I believe many are not so enthusiastic to vote in GE15, notwithstanding whether it rains or shines.

After all, they had tried Pakatan in power for 22 months and it didn't seem to make that much difference if not making things worse.

That would probably be the real reason for a possible lower voter turnout in GE15 rather than the coming monsoon rain.

Anyway, I don't think Pakatan and the other anti-BN/Umno people should lose hope.

In the monsoon general election in 1999,  BN, then led by Dr Mahathir took quite a beating due to Anwar's jailing the previous year.

Maybe things would be even better this time.

Who knows, voters may now be very disgusted with Umno after Najib was sent to jail for corruption the other day.

They may then overwhelmingly vote for another taste of Pakatan rule.

Yeah, maybe Pakatan may even make the same promises that they did in 2018 and the rakyat will believe them again like last time.

Oh, by the way, as Anwar said, his jailing was not the same as Najib's.

Malaysians are more sympathetic to people who were jailed after being found guilty of committing sodomy than corruption....aren't they?