Election Day, 1999 by Kathy Rowland

My late father-in-law was a man, big of heart and combative of spirit, with an acute sense of fair play. Like many Malaysians, he too was shocked by the ousting of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998. However, while he was canny to the political nature of the accusations, in the words of many back then, he felt: "better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t."

In the 1999 Elections, as the Barisan Nasional government denied over a million newly-registered voters their right to ballot, the family, long-time voters, prepared to cast their lots.

Come polling day, he drove with his mother, who, ailing and blind, was nonetheless resolute to cast her vote for the opposition, as she’d done for years -- up the little hill to the polling station in SMK Taman Petaling, in Petaling Jaya.

On the side of the road, just outside the entrance to jungle school, as it is known to all PJites, was a small poster. No larger than A4 size, pasted on a stick, stuck into the soft ground. 

It was a caricature of Anwar Ibrahim with a black eye, and the words: “He has a headache."

Similar images had already been running in the media, but something about that last-ditch attempt offended his sense of right and wrong. He cast his vote for the opposition that day.

This was not perhaps what the creators of that particularly vile BN advertising campaign back in 1999 expected, but, whoever they are, they certainly understood the power of art to move people.

Art and propaganda have a long, intertwined history, used by both right and left, government and opposition, good guys and bad ones. Think of the political posters of the Third Reich -- and John Heartfield’s photo montage posters, which subverted them so effectively. 

Or, closer to home, musicals such as Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!, with its bloated budget and revisionist UMNO-boleh history, in contrast to Datuk Noordin Hassan’s Di Mana Setangginya, which speaks about the rot in our society.

When you think about it, what is the political ceramah but a performance, after all? The actor-politician, with their scripted speeches, using words, gestures and even multimedia projection to conjure up fictitious dangers  and imaginary utopias, in a spectacle of seduction designed to buy the audience's vote.

Kakiseni's election coverage examines the art of politics -- from political posturing to election posters,   from myth-making to character building.

Sharaad Kuttan turns a dramaturgical eye on the spectacle of the 2008 General Elections, looking at the recent staging of playwright / director S T Bala's Sambathan before moving into a critique of Anwar Ibrahim's dramatic skills.

Pang Khee Teik -- Kakiseni Editor of yore (and lore), and now-Lord of the Annexe -- whips out his handphone and captures the political posters that are vying for your vote. His photo essay on the posters war is a visual narrative of money, art, politics and the serendipity of poster placement. And its funny too.

On the Kakiseni Blog, Zedeck Siew reads the mythologising of HINDRAF into a Hindu epic  for what it ultimately is: a barometer of how impoverished we are of inspiration that speaks to all Malaysians. The blog is also the place to watch the latest videos by Malaysian pop-star-activist-hunk, Justine Timeforchange, and his special guest.

Lainie Yeoh, another idealistic young blogger -- despite her claims otherwise -- takes us behind the scenes with the Mak Bedah character, an everywoman voter who ambushes candidates of all political stripes with questions to make even the most jaded post-feminist chick happy.

Setting the elections aside, the arts community lost one of its great pioneers last week. Novelist, playwright, thinker and man of integrity, Lloyd Fernando passed away on February 28th, 2008 at the age of 82. Read Ann Lee’s tribute to the first Malaysian Professor of Literature, and post your condolences to Lloyd’s family if you wish.

Ending on a sweet note, we’re running the Kakiseni Survey, as we’d like to get to know more about our readers. Take part and you’ll stand a chance to win digital cameras, lomo cameras, handphones -- and more.

You see, everyone wants to buy you. But don't worry, we're the good guys ...