The Battle Begins...

I'm at the DAP National Election Preparatory Conference this morning at Crystal Crown Hotel to kick off the DAP campaign. I'm assisting Jeff Ooi, who's heading the General Elections E-Campaign Strategy Team in our presentation this morning. Yes, work has to begin in earnest to ensure that we can come up with a good show on behalf of all Malaysians.

At the same time, as I'll also be standing for elections, I'll have to commence my own preparations as well. My own branch, DAP Damansara will be having a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the next steps which need to be taken.

Once again, I'll like to call upon those who will like to be part of the campaign team, who will like to volunteer in helping out with our various activities, e.g., dinners, fund-raising, internet etc., please come forward to join me at the meeting, with details below:

Date: 21 August 2007
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: DAP Damansara (55M Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya)

Anyone with any queries, feel free to email me at tonypua(at)yahoo.com. See you! ;)

Expensive Gifts

As Pakatan Rakyat formed the state government in Selangor, its elected representatives have received increasing demands from corporate entities ranging from property developers to slimming centres to be the guest of honour at their launching ceremonies.

Some of the younger assemblymen have asked for advice as to whether they should accept such invitations. I told them to use their discretion, and by all means, if it is a reputable company with no intent of "using" you to endorse their products, feel free to attend such functions.

Corporations and businesses form the backbone of our economy and it is often useful to hear what are the challenges which they face. If some of the requests are valid such as unreasonable delays in processing normal business applications (whether to approve or reject), then we must certainly play our role to assist them in expediting the process. However, if we are asked to help secure approval for a particular project as they do not fully comply with existing by-laws and guidelines, then by all means ask them to follow proper channels.

I was the Guest-of-Honour at one such function last weekend, to launch a commercial property development project in Petaling Jaya. I was asked to replace one of the state executive councillor at the last minute due to certain urgent matters arising.

While I must say that I'm not at my most comfortable position doing so, I took the opportunity to add in my speech that as a part of the local community now, the developer and its management must have more dialogue and consultations with the local residents to ensure a balance between development and livability. While well-planned commercial development promotes vibrancy, excessive development kills livability.

Typically in such functions, the host will present us with tokens of appreciation, often things like plaques, pens or pewter mugs. But after having reached home and opening the gift parcel, I was taken aback by what was given. Yes, as the picture above shows, I received a Nokia E90 Communicator, worth approximately RM3,500.

Make no mistake, I love the phone and have been looking at it ever since it was first launched late last year. But surely, receiving such a "gift" for attending a launching function and saying a few words is more than a little excessive!

Subsequently, I did find out however, that it's not uncommon for certain elected representatives to receive these gifts, which ranges from luxury cars to Rolex watches(!)

The question then is, do I return the gift to the developer with apologies? Or do I sell the phone and use the proceeds for community purposes?

I wasn't the only party who received the gift. Loh Gwo-Burne of Kelana Jaya received the same item for attending the function. I had a quick discussion with him on what's the next best step.

After pondering over the issue for a short while, we agreed to sell/auction off the 2 phones to the highest bidders and use the proceeds to fund our respective service centres. After all, the financing of our service centres (rental, staff, equipment etc.) comes not from the Government (unlike Barisan Nasional MPs, opposition MPs gets zero assistance to set up such offices), but from public donations and out of our own pockets.

So, for all of you out there who are interested in a (or two) brand new Nokia E90 Communicator at a discounted price, please feel free to email me @ tonypua (at) yahoo (dot) com with your bid. Cheques should be written to "DAP Damansara Branch". Its for a good cause too! ;-)

Donations for Ganabathi (Update)

The cheque handed over to Gana's brother from Weng San and me

Just to let everyone know that DAP Damansara has collected a total of RM4,860 and handed over the cheque to Gana's family on Saturday morning.

Four of us had a pleasant discussion with Gana's wife and elder brother who have managed a few trips to Kamunting to visit him. He's in decent spirits, lost about 5 pounds of weight and complains about the food ;-). Those detained under ISA are actually allowed visits any time during the day, 45 minutes each time. He's now spending the bulk of his time reading (3 books allowed per week) and writing.

The family will like to thank everyone who has contributed and sent their well wishes. They still strongly believe in Gana's sacrifice for a good cause and we can hope and pray for his early release from ISA detention.

For those who are still keen to donate, the DAP National Headquarters have set up a Trust Fund for the 5 Hindraf leaders detained under ISA. You may do so by depositing cash or cheque into the following account:

Bank: Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank)
Account Number: 5141 7814 5866
Account Name: Democratic Action Party

All funds in the account will be to cover the necessary legal expenses as well as to support the detainees' respective families. Your generosity is much appreciated!

Elections?

This is the first time I'm blogging on election speculation. I've never thought the speculations in the earlier part of this year from August to December were any credible.

But I've just had fairly credible news that elections will be held possibly before the Chinese New Year, despite overall anticipation of it being during the March school holidays.

Will it be so? Regardless, I think the time is extremely near. We need to mobilise all the necessary help and volunteers we can get.

If you are keen on volunteering, please do not hesitate to contact me at tonypua(at)yahoo(dot)com. There's no time to lose, it's time to wrest back our country. It'll be an election to remember. ;-)

DAP Damansara Branch

Hurray, after waiting for some four months or so, the new DAP Damansara Branch has now been officially approved by the Registrar of Societies. The DAP Damansara is now branch "1006" in the party. I was actually hoping for 999, 1000 or 1008! ;)

For those who would like to join my branch, in which I'm currently the pro-tem committee chairman, please feel free to email me @ tonypua(at)yahoo.com. ;) Alternatively, you are also most welcome to turn up at our branch meeting next Thursday evening.

Date: 3rd May 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: DAP Damansara Community & Service Centre @ Uptown (55M Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama 47400 Petaling Jaya)

We plan for DAP Damansara to be an active branch with plenty of activities to be conducted, both political and non-political ones. Non-political functions will include charity events, games and competitions, while semi-political events will include forums, voter registration exercises as well as grassroot activities.

So if you are interested in any of these at all, come join us, who are a group of relatively young professionals hoping to play our little roles in making a better Malaysia.

(DAP members from other branches are most welcome to join us for our activities as well ;))

Blood Donation Drive Update

A big thank you to all those who contributed blood to our blood donation drive held last week on Friday and Saturday.

As one of the donors commented, "it's clearly harder to get people to give their blood than to give their votes to you". ;-)

Despite giving out more than 1,000 leaflets, having the event listed in some of the Chinese press as well as sending out some 2,000 sms'es to residents, we barely managed to hit 25% of our original target of 300 bags of blood.

While there were clearly some shortcomings in the organisation and there are probably other avenues of publicity which we need to improve on (which we are already aware of), ideas of how to attract more donors are most welcome.

Maybe I should hold a ceramah in conjunction with a blood donation drive... ;-)

Donations for Ganabathi

Many would have read my post on V Ganabathirau last week. Many, including my own DAP Damansara branch members were also asking how they could donate to Gana's wife and daughter. As promised, here are the details on how you make the donation. Apologies for the delay, partly caused by me trying to first obtain consent from his family, and partly, by me having to rewrite this post as I somehow lost/deleted the one I wrote late Monday.

I'm setting a deadline for donation on Sunday, 23rd December and will hand over the funds to Gana's family some time next week. There are 3 methods of collection, by cheque, by direct bank-in or by credit card (via PayPal) with the relevant instructions below. On behalf of the Gana and family, I'd like to thank you for your generous contributions.

1. Donation by Cheque:

Please write your cheque to "DAP Damansara Branch". You can either deliver or post it to the DAP Damansara Service Centre. Please also write "For Gana" at the back of the cheque so as to prevent a mix up with a normal donation to our branch.

Damansara Community & Service Centre
55M Jalan SS21/1A,
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya

2. Direct Bank-In

You can also perform a direct bank-in into our branch account, whether by cheque, cash, ATM transfer or telegraphic transfer at any Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank). The details are as follows:

Bank: Malayan Banking Berhad, Damansara Utama Branch
Account Name: DAP Damansara Branch
Account No: 5141 9634 2008
Swift Code: MBBEMYKL

Please do not forget to email me at tonypua(at)yahoo(dot)com once the direct bank-in has been transacted to ensure that I'm aware of the time, amount and reference of the transaction.

Thank you once again for your kind donations, I'm certain that Gana and his family will definitely appreciate the gesture. Please also let me know via email whether you'd like to remain anonymous to the family or if you'd like to list your name down as one of the donors when we hand over cheque to him. Do also let me know if you face any problems with the above.

V Ganabathirau

(Update II: Donation mechanism is ready. See post here.)

(Update: Due to numerous requests for information on how to donate to Gana's family from DAP Damansara branch members to fellow supporters, I'll be announcing details soon here on this blog this weekend when the mechanism gets ironed out)

Today is another sad and black day for Malaysia. You would have read that 5 Hindraf leaders have been arrested without trial under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), exactly two decades after the last Operasi Lalang.

There appears to be plenty of such sad and black days in recent weeks. Who would have thought that the seemingly genial Prime Minister, Pak Lah, when he took over the reigns of the Government could have been such an incompetent, uninspiring, sleeping and heartless leader?

But enough about Pak Lah, I've ranted enough 2 days ago here. Now, I'd just like to provide a little more insight to one of those arrested, a little known unsung hero, 34 year old lawyer, V Ganabathirau, who hit the limelight recently as one of the core leaders of Hindraf.

As you may have read from the New Straits Times (NST) yesterday, Gana is a DAP member. What makes the whole ugly episode we saw today close to me, is that Gana is a member of DAP Damansara branch, of which I'm the chairperson. Gana joined me in March this year, and subsequently helped form the Taman Muda branch in Shah Alam, of which he is the advisor.

Having known him for the past 8 months or so, I can't claim to know him inside out. But there are somethings which I will vouch for him with my life.

Gana is not a racist. He is not a religious fanatic and neither is he in anyway at all, a terrorist as he is insinuated to be. Having known him well in recent months, he is the complete opposite of what the Pak Lah administration, through the mainstream mouthpieces will like to paint him to be.

Gana is a full-blooded Malaysian, who strongly believes that all Malaysians regardless of ethnicity must have equal opportunities to succeed. While some may quibble over the fact that Hindraf could have taken a greater multi-racial outlook in its position, no right thinking Malaysian will deny them the fact that the overwhelming majority of Indians in this country are severely marginalised and lives below or near the poverty line.

The way politics in Malaysia are framed at this point of time, it is unsurprising that the ethnic Indians found themselves having to stand up and be counted. They really have nothing else to lose.

Some will argue that I can afford to spend some time on politics today because I've made some money after having sold my company. However, Gana, despite having just started his own fledging law firm, found himself travelling frequently (i.e., at least weekly) between Teluk Intan, his hometown and Shah Alam where he now stays, in order to provide his community services to the needy and unfortunate. He even rented and refurbished a service centre in Teluk Intan with his own money, to carry out his services.

When I received cases at my own service centre in Damansara Utama, and was in need of legal services to assist the complainants, Gana offered his with absolutely no hesitation. For example, there was a group of 7 contractors who failed to receive payment from a housing developer, Gana took up their case and offered legal advise pro bono. When legal actions were required, I actually had to convince him to accept some payment from these contractors! Guess what, these contractors were all Chinese but race, as should be the case for all right-thinking Malaysians, never ever came into the picture.

Gana, the youngest of 3 brothers, is a son that would have made any family proud. He belongs to the Indian Telugu community and grew up in a poor family which just about made enough to survive. Gana never manage to have the privilege of completing his education at one go. After finishing Form 5, he had to take up various odd jobs to help support himself and his family.

That however, did not prevent him from investing his earnings and taking up part-time courses to pursue his ambition of becoming an officer of the court. His dream came true in his late twenties when he graduated with a law degree from the University of London external programme. He plied his trade as a legal assistant with a law firm in Teluk Intan before saving sufficiently to set up his own firm, having moved to Shah Alam late last year.

But all these while, he held political ambitions, ambitions not to further enrich himself by illegal and unethical means, but ambitions to help play a part in the betterment of his marginalised community as well as Malaysians in general. Having set up his own firm, it provided him, for better or worse, the flexibility to spend time on social and political causes. And he did it with all his heart and soul.

Gana was married not too long ago to a school teacher. And only just on Merdeka day this year, his first, now barely 4-month old baby daughter, was born. If Pak Lah has his way, by the time Gana is released from ISA detention, his daughter would be more than 2 years old. When Gana first pointed out his wife to me sitting in the court stands when he was being charged with sedition in Klang sessions court, you could visibly see tears in her eyes. Her fears have unfortunately come true.

Gana told me that his wife was a former Tamil school debater and is very politically aware. In fact, in the earlier years, she used to tease him that he only knew how to "talk" politics but never got his hands dirty. More recently however, she will half-jokingly tell him that she regretted having ever encouraged him to join the fight for a just cause.

Gana is a good man. He has sacrificed selflessly to help create a better Malaysia for all Malaysians, particularly for the underprivileged and marginalised community. He has rose quickly to prominence through sheer tenacity, hardwork, eloquence and dedication to the cause. 30,000 Indians from all parts of Malaysia walked the streets of Kuala Lumpur not because they had nothing better to do, but because they shared his cause, and they believed that "enough is enough!"

For that, Pak Lah who is clearly unable to hear, accept and deal with the truth, invoked the draconian ISA in the hope of sweeping all under the carpet.

Thankfully, Gana has a kind and loving family members who will help take care of the needs of the mother and child. The DAP, as announced by the party secretary-general, will be setting up a fund to assist the families of those who have been detained without trial.

My eyes were moist as I wrote this post. I firmly believe that Gana will be a stronger man post-detention. You would not have heard the last of him for a long time yet. I expect him to be a future leader of this country, a rare breed of the much needed righteous, caring, intelligent and dedicated kind who will only contribute immensely to creating a better Malaysia for our future generations. His personal sacrifices must not, and will not be in vain.

Share this story with others who need to see the other side of the coin.

(Footnote: I've been corrected that he is actually the middle and not the youngest son of 3 brothers. ;-))

"2008 Celebrating Hope & Change" Dinner

As blogged earlier, and a gentle reminder, we look forward to your support to make this fund-raising dinner a success. The Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng has also confirmed his attendance to speak at the function.

"2008 - Celebrating The Year of Hope & Change"

Venue: MBPJ Dewan Banquet
Date: 17 December 2008 (Wednesday)
Time: 7.30pm
Speakers: Lim Guan Eng, Gobind Singh, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San,
Dr Cheah Wing Yin, Hannah Yeoh

Halal Chinese food will be served, and the primary language for this dinner will be English.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per table. VIP tables are also available for RM1,500 a table. The funds raised from the dinner, anticipated to be approximately RM30,000 each will be used for running our respective service centres, and a portion donated to DAP Selangor and DAP Malaysia. Even for my office alone, it costs at least RM10,000 to operate monthly with 3-4 staff and any shortfall essentially comes from my own allowance as a Member of Parliament.

Hence we look forward to your generous support to help us provide our services to the public. For reservations, please email to allypua@yahoo.com or to me directly with your name, contact number, which dinner(s) and number of seats or tables (VIP or normal) required. We will then get back to you with further information.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Damansara Branch" or cash can be deposited at DAP Damansara Maybank account: 5141 9634 2008. Credit card payment is also available upon request.

Thank you once again for your continued support!

Asia 21 Society Conference in Tokyo

I'm now in Tokyo for a 3 day conference - Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative Summit - and should be back in Parliament on Monday morning. For those who are trying to reach me - my Malaysian number is incapacitated as I do not own a 3G phone (other systems don't work here, unfortunately).

For any urgent matters, please email me (I still get to check periodically) or call/sms the Damansara Service Centre Hotline 016-2208867.

PJ Fund Raising Dinner II

Yup, the time has come for another gentle reminder for our second DAP PJ Fund Raising Dinner to be held next week. After a successful first dinner held earlier this month in English, this time, the dinner will be held primarily in Chinese.

The speakers at the dinner include:

• YB Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• YB Teresa Kok, MP for Seputeh
• Ronnie Liu, DAP Central Executive Committee Member
• Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
• Lau Weng San, Political Secretary to DAP Secretary-General
• Dr Cheah Wing Yin, Former President, Private Medical Practitioners Association of KL-Selangor

You can purchase the tickets online below using credit cards via PayPal, or contact me @ tonypua(at)yahoo(dot)com for more details. Cheque payments should be made to "DAP Damansara Branch". We certainly look forward to your support and attendance! ;)

20th Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per pax)
@ RM50 (US$15)

20th Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per table of 10)
@ RM500 (US$150)

20th Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per VIP table of 10)
@ RM1,000 (US$300)

DAP Petaling Jaya Dinners 2008/9

To all readers and supporters, DAP Damansara and Paramount branches will be jointly organising 2 fund-raising dinners over the next two months. We would also take the opportunity to celebrate the year end and new year's festive seasons. The details are as follows:

1. Dinner: "2008 - Celebrating The Year of Hope & Change"

Venue: MBPJ Dewan Banquet
Date: 17 December 2008 (Wednesday)
Time: 7.30pm
Speakers: Lim Guan Eng, Gobind Singh, Hannah Yeoh, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San,
Dr Cheah Wing Yin

Halal Chinese food will be served, and the primary language for this dinner will be English.

2. Dinner: "2009 - Anticipating What's In Store For Malaysia?"

Venue: Damansara Palace Restaurant, Kota Damansara
Date: 15 January 2009 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30pm
Speakers: Lim Kit Siang, Nga Kor Ming, Ean Yong Hian Wah, Tony Pua,
Lau Weng San, Cheah Wing Yin, Tiew Way Keng

Chinese food will be served, and the primary language for this dinner will be Chinese.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per table. VIP tables are also available for RM1,500 a table. The funds raised from the dinner, anticipated to be approximately RM30,000 each will be used for running our respective service centres, and a portion donated to DAP Selangor and DAP Malaysia. Even for my office alone, it costs at least RM10,000 to operate monthly with 3-4 staff and any shortfall essentially comes from my own allowance as a Member of Parliament.

Hence we look forward to your generous support to help us provide our services to the public. For reservations, please email to allypua@yahoo.com or to me directly with your name, contact number, which dinner(s) and number of seats or tables (VIP or normal) required. We will then get back to you with further information.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Damansara Branch" or cash can be deposited at DAP Damansara Maybank account: 5141 9634 2008. Credit card payment is also available upon request.

Thank you once again for your continued support!

PJ Fund Raising Dinner - Last Call

Hi guys,

It has been a pretty frantic couple of days and it'll probably continue till the Thursday DAP PJ Fund Raising Dinner. ;)


Just wanted to put a note out as a gentle reminder and a last call to those who are interested in attending the above dinner. It's just RM50 per person and it'll certainly go a long way towards assisting us towards are campaign to "reclaim" Petaling Jaya from Barisan Nasional ;)

The dinner should be an exciting affair with:

• Ballroom performances by the current Malaysian champions, Michael Yong & Janet Gooi
  
  
• A special performance by Alfred Ho, a popular blind singer who has recently joined DAP (he's very good, by the way)
  
  
• Speeches by Sdr Lim Guan Eng and YB Fong Po Kuan (our very own cili-padi, replacing YB Teresa Kok who's away on duty in UK), plus the team servicing Petaling Jaya including yours truly ;).
  

Vegetarian food as well as halal options (food and cutlery provided by external Muslim caterers) are available upon request, whether as individual portions or by entire tables. There is also no pork served on the main menu.

The map to the restaurant, Damansara Palace @ Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya is as follows:

You can purchase the tickets online below using credit cards via PayPal, or contact me @ tonypua(at)yahoo(dot)com for more details. Cheque payments should be made to "DAP Damansara Branch". We certainly look forward to your support and attendance! ;)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per pax)
@ RM50 (US$15)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per table of 10)
@ RM500 (US$150)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per VIP table of 10)
@ RM1,000 (US$300)

PJ Fund Raising Dinner (II)

Hi guys, just a quick update on the "Petaling Jaya to Lead Malaysia Forward" dinner on the 1st November ;) We do know that a dinner function with just speeches is going to be kinda dry, hence we were looking for ways to spice it up ;)

Well, we are pleased to confirm that Mr Michael Yong and Ms Janet Gooi, who will represent Malaysia for ballroom dancing (Latin) at the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau in November 2007 and the 24th SEA Games in Korat, Thailand, this December 2007, will perform at our dinner for specially for you. ;)

Michael Yong, the current Malaysian Grade A Latin Champion with 7 national championship titles, started dancing at the age of 14 when he accompanied his mother to her dance classes. Internationally, the pair secured the champion placing in the Grade A Latin Open held in Ipoh (January 2007), followed by 2nd. runners up spot at the Latin Super Cup held in Singapore in March 2007.

So hurry, secure your tables today by sending me an email at tonypua(at)yahoo.com. Individual seats are available at RM50, or a table of 10 at RM500 but the best of all, ringside VIP tables for the best views at RM1,000 per table. Cheques can be made out to "DAP Damansara Branch". Alternatively, feel free to purchase/book your tables via credit card, courtesy of PayPal payment gateway by clicking on the right items below.

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per pax)
@ RM50 (US$15)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per table of 10)
@ RM500 (US$150)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per VIP table of 10)
@ RM1,000 (US$300)

Maintaining a community and service centre as well as running an election campaign is a relatively expensive affair, especially when compared against the mighty machinery of Barisan Nasional. I will blog on how much it'll cost us soon enough. But in the mean time, your support is crucial towards helping the DAP win in Petaling Jaya (which comprises of 2 parliamentary seat, 5 state seats, not all of which are/will be contested by DAP). Let the voters in PJ take the lead in bring about the winds of change for the nation!

These dinners are organised by DAP Damansara and DAP PJ Action Team.

PJ Fund Raising Dinner

Yes, the DAP in Petaling Jaya is raising funds both of its regular operations as well as for the upcoming elections. To kick off our fund raising campaign, we will be hosting to dinners to celebrate Malaysia's 50th Merdeka Anniversary with the theme "Petaling Jaya To Lead Malaysia Forward".

Ticket for the 1st Dinner (English/Malay)

The first dinner will be held on the 1st November 2007 (Thursday) at Damansara Palace Restaurant, Kota Damansara. Halal food will be made available for Muslim guests. This dinner will have English as the primary language with the following speakers:

• Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General
• YB Teresa Kok, MP for Seputeh
• Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
• Lau Weng San, Political Secretary to DAP Secretary-General
• Dr Cheah Wing Yin, Former President, KL-Selangor Private Medical Practitioners Association

* Other potential speakers to be confirmed.

In addition, a special Latin and Modern ballroom dance performance by the Malaysian dance champion and our representative at the Asian Games is being arranged, and will be confirmed soon for this dinner.

Ticket for the 2nd Dinner (Chinese)

The second dinner is to be held on the 20th November 2007 at the same venue, this time with Chinese as the primary language. The speakers for the second dinner will include (besides some of the above speakers):

• YB Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• Sdr Ronnie Liu, DAP Central Executive Committee Member
• Sdr Ean Yong Hian Wah, DAP Selangor State Chairman

The tickets are priced at RM50 each or RM500 per table of 10. VIP tickets are available at RM1,000 per table of 10.

For those interested in purchasing tickets for the above dinners using credit cards via PayPal, click on the relevant buttons below (a new PayPal window will appear). Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact me @ tonypua(at)yahoo.com to use other forms of payments.

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per pax)
@ RM50 (US$15)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per table of 10)
@ RM500 (US$150)

1st Nov 2007 PJ Dinner (per VIP table of 10)
@ RM1,000 (US$300)

Maintaining a community and service centre as well as running an election campaign is a relatively expensive affair, especially when compared against the mighty machinery of Barisan Nasional. I will blog on how much it'll cost us soon enough. But in the mean time, your support is crucial towards helping the DAP win in Petaling Jaya (which comprises of 2 parliamentary seat, 5 state seats, not all of which are/will be contested by DAP). Let the voters in PJ take the lead in bring about the winds of change for the nation!

These dinners are organised by DAP Damansara and DAP PJ Action Team.

More on Polling & Counting Agents

There next training (in English) is held:

Date/Time: Sat (26th Jan 2008, 3.30 p.m.)
DAP Damansara Community & Service Center
55M ，Jalan SS 21/1A, Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya

For more information, call 6017 339 3636. To ease our arrangements, e-mail your name and phone number to pollingagent@gmail.com . Walk in participants will also be welcomed with open arms.

Do your part! Ensure a clean and fair 2008 elections - VOLUNTEER AS A POLLING AGENT and/or COUNTING AGENT!

To find out more about what polling and counting agents do, read on. ;-)

A polling agent is someone who sits in a polling stream (the classroom where the voting takes place) and observes the voting process. Each school may have a different number of polling streams (saluran mengundi) depending on the number of voters in that area. Each polling stream caters to a specific age group.

A counting agent is someone who observes the counting of the votes after polling closes at 5pm.

You don't have to be a member of a political party to become a PA or a CA. You have to be Malaysian and above 21 to register as a PA or a CA. This is done through the political parties.

A PA is armed with a copy of the electoral roll for that particular classroom, pencil/pen and a ruler. The PA basically observes the voter as he/she enters the room. The election officer will read out the voter's name, IC number and his/her number on the electoral roll. The PA will cross out the voter's name on the electoral roll to ensure that we know exactly how many people voted in that classroom.

A PA must be alert and take note if there are any irregularities, eg. the voter is female but the IC number denotes the voter is male, the voter is much much older or younger than the IC indicates, the voter is Indian but has a Chinese name, etc. The PA has a right to object and raise questions.

Volunteers Training

Hey, apologies for the late notice. I've barely had time to switch on the notebook in the past week to blog...

There's a polling and counting agent training for those interested in helping out with the Petaling Jaya election campaign come March. The details are as follows:

Date: 18 January 2008 (Fri)
Time: 8.00 pm
Venue: DAP Damansara Service Centre @ 55M Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, PJ

Hope to see you guys there! ;-) For those interested to find out what polling and counting agents do, check out my earlier post!

And for those interested in helping out but can't make it today, send me an email @ tonypua (at) yahoo(dot)com or call/SMS the DAP Damansara Hotline @ +6016 2208867. We'll notify you separately on the next training session.

Budget 2008: Who Benefits? (II)

Who are the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's 2008 Budget? What is the prospects like for the economy of the country? What did you receive from Pak Lah's budget?

DAP has also launched our own version of the Malaysian budget - "Malaysian First: Unity Driven Equity, Growth & Innovation" focusing on the challenges of globalisation and the country's reliance on oil and gas revenues. (You can download the English and Chinese versions)

To understand further on who benefits in the latest Malaysian budget, and to analyse Malaysia's economic prospects, DAP is organising an English forum on the 12th September 2007 at DAP Damansara Branch. The details of the forum are as follows:

Malaysian First: Budget 2008 - Who Benefits?

Date: 12 September 2007 (Wednesday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: DAP Damansara Seminar Room
(55-1 Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya - map below)

The panel of speakers include:

• Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General
• Charles Santiago, Coordinator, Coalition Against Water Privatisation
• Khoo Kay Peng, Socio-political Analyst
• Jeff Ooi, DAP National E-Campaign Director
• Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Sec-Gen

For more information, please contact DAP Damansara Hotline at 016-2208867. The seminar room fits approximately 100 people, so please come early to book your seats. ;)

Click image for larger view of map

Polling & Counting Agents

The Election Fever is heating up isn't it? ;-)

Well, for those who may not be able to assist for a large part of our campaign in Petaling Jaya, but are available nevertheless to assist on voting day, we need you to become polling and counting agents for the day.

We are holding 2 training sessions this week for the above agents, feel free to turn up at any one at your convenience:

Training 1:

Date: 10 January 2008 (Thu)
Time: 8.00 pm
Venue: DAP Selangor Headquarters @ 77 Jalan 20/9, Taman Paramount, PJ

Training 2:

Date: 11 January 2008 (Fri)
Time: 8.00 pm
Venue: DAP Damansara Service Centre @ 55M Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, PJ

Hope to see you guys there! ;-) For those interested to find out what polling and counting agents do, read on!

Polling Agents

Their job starts on the election day by inspecting that the metal ballot boxes have not been tampered. They also ensure that the boxes are securely locked before voting begins. After locking, the boxes are sealed by the election commission and each agent may place their own seal on the box.

The agents also ensure that the ballot papers given out to voters do not contain markings. In the past certain parties have marked the ballot papers for their own candidates. This will result in a spoilt vote which is discarded during counting. Some ballot papers have been coated with waxy surfaces to prevent voting for certain candidates. The agents ensure that these events do not occur.

The agent also ensures that, on the close of voting, the ballot boxes are still secure and the seals are intact. This may be done at a designated counting centre instead of the voting centre. The boxes are opened once the agents are certain that there is no tampering.

DAP Inaugural Golf Tournament

Well, DAP Damansara and Subang Jaya are holding the first ever golf tournament to be held by the party! It's being organised by Hannah Yeoh, ADUN for Subang Jaya and myself.

I personally used to golf a fair bit, until I joined DAP some 2 years ago and I've only had chance to hit the ball probably twice since. But I've always wanted to try holding such a tournament (since I joined the party) and we are finally seeing it happening.

The details are as follows:

Date: 28 Sep 2008 (Sun)
Time: 1.00 pm (shot gun)
Venue: Kinrara Golf Club

Entry fee is RM300 per pax. Closing date 25th Sept or up to 120 participants (1st come 1st served). There will be plenty of prizes for golfing and lucky draw winners, as well as items for auction. While the list of prizes have not been finalised, the top prizes will include air tickets to destinations overseas ;-)

Plus, if you are lucky (or unlucky) enough, we could be on the same flight ;-) Fees collected net of the cost of organisation, prizes and gifts will be used to fund the community service centres in Damansara Utama and Subang Jaya.

Please download the entry forms here.

Rules & regulations:

• Payment can be via cash, cheque or credit card
• Scoring for the tournament will be done on System 36 / Stableford format. All tallied results will be final and complaints will not be entertained.
• Buffet dinner, prize presentation and auctions will be held at the clubhouse at 7.30pm hosted by MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, Tony Pua and ADUN for Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh.

Submission & Enquiries:

• Please fax your entry forms to: (03) 7726 0443
• For any further enquiries, please do not hesitate to call Ally Pua @ 016-2208867, Edward Yap @ 012-2088967 , Wilson Leong @ 012-6351313 or email : dappju@yahoo.com