*MARINA MAHATHIR'S EXPERIENCE*

PM Mahathir Mohamad's daughter on her election campaign experience:

It's almost a week since that momentous May 9. A bit weird really because for the longest time I simply couldn't think about May 10 for fear of being heartbroken.

But now it's a whole week later and the heart has been singing ever since!

I wanted to do a summary of my thoughts about the whole campaign rather than an analysis of it. This is my own personal take of the entire experience, which by the way was first for me.

I was first involved in Maria Chin's campaign [Maria Chin Abdullah is a political activist and was heading a civil society movement Bersih 2.0 till she resigned to contest Malaysia's general elections].

At first it was just her friends from the women's group who were helping her out.

We started by doing a little fund raising and people were sceptical that an independent person could win an election. But still a few people helped us and soon the number of volunteers grew.

Some ran the office, some did out reach, some became PACAs [polling and counting agents], some did her communications work.

My friends Ivy Josiah and Masjaliza Hamzah were co-campaign managers and since they've both worked Maria before, it was pretty easy to get organized with what they needed to do.

If anyone ever dropped by TeamMaria'sBilikGerakan, they would have felt an amazing buzz.

People were coming and going, doing their work quietly in different corners and just making sure everything went smoothly.

I really think it was one of the best campaigns I ever saw.

But the best thing was this : all sorts of people. young, old, every bangsa and agama, just turned up to help in what ever way they could.

We called out the PACAs and in the end we had so many, we could help other candidates as well.

But there was an amazing camaraderie among us all which made the whole thing fun.

Although I couldn't be there all the time. I now have new friends and I also have a new appreciation for the talents of some old ones.

Speaking on a metal stage

i also had to do some  ceramahs on my own. It started with  being invited to speak at one ceremah in Penang and then it snowballed so much that I had to ask for help to manage my schedule.

Besides Penang, i went to Johor, KIang Pahang, and KL,  mostly speaking at smallish  ceramahs  for some young new candidates.

The reception everywhere was universally warm and enthusiastic. And again I met all sorts of people, all dying for change to happen.

I spoke from everything from fancy stages to the backs of trucks  and at one point, on a metal stage just as thunder and lightening started to flash.

The honor and serving of the Operational Research Publishing on Politics, Election and Humans continues to Part 2.

The World Students Society thanks author Marina Mahathir and wishes her well.