Police making their presence known right after dawn
The rush was on at 7.45am for the 'early birds'
5 minutes to 5pm and this couple get their chance to finally cast a vote'
Taman Desa was full of life just after dawn this 5th of May. A crowd of people joined me to line up at SMK Perdana Taman Desa as we waited impatiently to make one of the most important choices of our lives.
I was up even earlier.
As an eager, first time volunteer, I had already arrived at 6am in the morning to get the DAP pondok panas ready for action. A small group of us were involved and we helped point people to the right voting stations around Taman Desa (as the stations are mainly in schools, people inevitably got lost finding which of the 3 schools in Taman Desa was which). By 7.20am there were enough people to form a 50m queue outside the gates of our school. I joined in and at 7.45am the gates opened.
My vote was cast and I was on my way out by 8.15am, passing by a couple of familiar faces on the way out.
The shop-lot eateries up the road were full of people who had either just voted or were about to. There was a lot of hopeful chatter - we were sure Seputeh, of which Taman Desa is a part of - would continue to carry as a DAP stronghold - but there was fear about how neighbouring constituencies would perform.
It was back home to Casa Desa for a short nap. Then back to the pondok at lunchtime to continue my duties. Surprisingly, voters continued to arrive in sizeable numbers. Even one of my close buddies from work dropped by. Coincidentally, he was also registered to vote and did his bit in no time. Throughout the afternoon folks idled around to chat with us and share updates from our smart phones every now and then. Even a thunderstorm didn't dampen voters and they continued to trickle in right up to the last few minutes before 5pm.
Taman Desa continues to be the staunch home of DAP supporters, there's no denying it. A lot of us were hopeful of the future that day, even though the results were ultimately disappointing. But life goes on in Taman Desa. As it always will.
