I refer to the letter GE2008 - Shahrizat was wronged!

I don’t deny that Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is capable and has done wonders for her constituents. I also know of friends in Bangsar who are upset at how their residential area has turned into a commercial ghetto. I used to vote for her. Like the rest of the BN candidates, I found her campaign too lavish to the point of being distasteful. I kept thinking of the hundreds of families that can benefit from the amount of the rakyat ’s money that was being spend.

Literally, every lamppost had her banner and the flashy BN cars that cruised the areas and the so called ‘speakers’ corner’ all reeked of the rakyat ’s money’.

I also think Shahrizat made her constituents sense her desperateness – I did. The hundreds of posters of her holding a child, hugging an old lady and what have you, the countless SMSes with the pantun and also the underlying threats ( syukur negara kita aman , tak da pergaduhan , yadda, yadda, yadda - undilah Kak Shahrizat) was just plain tacky.

And it makes me wonder why such an intelligent and beautiful person who had managed to turn squalid squatter areas into a decent places for homes could resort to such degrading tactics.

This is the folly of the entire BN campaign – plain tackiness and taking the people for idiots. You don’t have to be a math genius to know that hundreds and millions ringgit of public funds was being spent for BN’s campaign.

Then the total monopoly of the mainstream media by BN with their stupid propaganda. That just did it and most voters with a rational thinking revolted. I think a lot of people just cast ‘ undi geram ’ against the BN for taking the public for a ride.

So for the first time in my 45 years of age, me and my friends attended the opposition ceramah . To think that we rushed home from work, braced the traffic and heavy rains and stood amid makeshift stages - it was something that none of us thought we would do one day. We have, after all, turned into creatures of comfort but thank god though our principles of what is right are still intact.

Like most rational people, I don’t think I gave Nurul Izzah ‘ undi kesian ’. It was more of ‘Go for it girl!’ vote.

We all have to start somewhere and I’m certain if Nurul has the kind of funds and cables as Shahrizat has, she can take care of her constituents well.