Thursday May 9, 2013

GE13: Volunteer recounts unpleasant experience as polling station officer

Joanne Lim

PETALING JAYA: Being an officer at a polling station on polling day was an abusive experience for volunteer Joanne Lim, 22, who claimed to have been targeted by hostile and suspicious voters.

In her Facebook post, which has since gone viral, Lim talked about assisting voters in finding their streams, the long tiring hours, the paperwork and, mostly, how she and her fellow volunteers witnessed various antics and other strange behaviour from voters who were paranoid or distrustful of the EC.

“To my utter shock, many voters regarded me as a government machinery who was placed there to prevent them from voting/to destroy/track their votes.

“When checking for a man's saluran using his identity card, I was about to hand him the paper which stated the room he should vote in when he quickly said, NO NO! Don't give me anything! You'll track me!'.

“It was flabbergasting!” Lim wrote in her account.

She also talked about elaborate means some voters went to in a bid to “protect” their votes, like bringing their own pencils and erasers and even scrutinising their ballot papers for dots.

Lim also wrote about the bad treatment policemen on duty received from the people there and condescending election observers, who were rude to the volunteers and kept reminding them how their EC shirts and caps were paid for by “their money”.

“Really, to hell with humanity, I have to say. In our bid for free and fair elections, we leave out compassion and love for others,” Lim said in her final few paragraphs.

When contacted by The Star, the English literature student said, however, she held no ill will, adding that most voters were civil and that the fault lay on both sides.

“It had a lot to do with the Internet and rumours that made people paranoid. It did a lot of harm. At the same time, there was a lack of transparency on the whole process.”

“Some volunteers said they would not do it again. It was very tiring and unpleasant,” she said.

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