But there might be planted voters

As a follow-up to the phantom voters post, I feel obliged to write about the latest interview by journalist Aniza Damis in the New Sunday Times. When talking about 35-year-old housewife, Sharmila Thuraisingam, who claims to have been registered to vote without her knowledge in a place she never lived, the Election Commission chairman reaffirmed that this was not a phantom voter, but admitted, "At worst, this may be a case of a 'planted voter'," someone registered at the wrong address.
My personal highlight comes when the chairman says "Registration is done through forms. We can't check every form. There are too many. So we base it on trust. We know we were cheated many times. But the number has dropped." And later:

A: The system then may have been manipulated. But don't blame the EC. We based everything on trust.
Q: Is that a smart thing to do?
A: It was, then. That's why we changed it.

Keep this in mind. As long as you base your actions on trust, you can never be blamed for trusting wrongly. I trust that leaving my wallet stuffed with Malaysian Ringgit unattended in bad neighborhoods will surely not result in its theft. Surely.

The another interesting thing about Malaysian elections is that the campaigning will only last 13 days, and are announced somewhat spontaneously, towards the end of the term limit.

A: Security-wise it's not advisable (to have campaigning last a week longer). People might drag in sensitive issues.
(And later)

A: We will continue to have sensitive issues that can divide the country. I don't have to tell you that. A lot of things are hidden down there (under the surface). It takes only a small thing to start a problem.
Q: What do you say to opposition parties which say that a short campaign period places them at a disadvantage?
A: I can't comment on that. That is their opinion.
But it may be so.

I think I could really get into American politics if there were interviews in the New York Times half as interesting as these. But just picture for a second what the '08 election would be like if it lasted 13 days and the goal was to avoid any sensitive issues that could divide the country. There'd be no Obama Girl, no Swift Boat Veterans, and no McCain-Huckabee pudding wrestling. *Sigh.* Simpler times.

Also worth noting is that I came up with my most successful activity to date, teaching the students the fine art of excuses. After a few examples ("I didn't know I couldn't do that," "My brother ate my homework," "I was dead at the time") I asked the best liar to stand up and got him to explain why he way late to class to the best interrogator the class had to offer. I gave them 1 minute for the "student" to fool the "teacher," or for the "teacher" to catch him in a lie.

Teacher: Why are you late?
Student: I was Jihad.
T: What?
S: I was stopped by soldiers at roadblock.
T: But we are in Malaysia, and not Iraq or Palestine and there are no groups of soldiers and roadblocks.
Pretty solid Q.E.D., huh? Still, the teacher actually came to this conclusion after 1 minute so I called it a draw. The student was played by one of the kids I actually remember who I call "boy-about-to-cry" for reasons that would be apparent if you ever stared into his eyes and felt the deepest despair the world has to offer.

I will no doubt return to "fool the teacher" as I get bored later in the year and wish to return to the root of creativity- lying.

Lastly, I really don't know what to make of this video about the tudung (head covering) that one of the teachers was playing. I'll let you judge for yourselves.