Fasting month the best time for GE-13?

ELECTION DATE- Fed by people claiming to be in the know, everyone is playing the guessing game

THESE days, the election date guessing game peppers almost all conversations. We have after all been in an election anticipation mode for the past couple of years, fed by punditries and analyses by people claiming to be in the know.

For some, the drums of elections were beaten the day after the 2008 polls, and it has been endless, incessant drumming since, much to the detriment of the nation's collective sanity, I believe.

So-called political analysts claiming inside knowledge, insight and the ability to cut through the political noises and read the nuances of politicos' speak, have put words to paper that the election would have been in the first quarter, then the first half, of the year.

They are probably the same folks who predicted the same for last year, moving the polling date from month to month, and quarter to quarter, till last year ended. The lesson here is of course whoever claims to know something probably possesses the same insight as the person beside you at the mamak restaurant.

But the great thing about punditry is one need not be right, just be convincing.

Nevertheless, I wish I had a ringgit for every time someone asked me when the election was going to be held. I may be in the media business, but I do not possess the ability to read people's minds, much less the prime minister's.

Fret not, sooner or later they will get it right. A few weeks ago, I met one senior elections official who said -- cheekily -- the elections was "getting closer now", which of course was true but provided me no clearer picture of the polls ahead.

Politicians are playing the guessing game, too. The federal opposition is of course the most active. They have been preparing for a general election since striking it hot in 2008, and have been the most vocal advocate of earlier elections, complaining, whining and even daring the Federal Government to hold one early.

Ironically, this desire for an early election is only for parliamentary seats, and not for state assemblies for they would want to stretch their hold on Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan, for as long as possible. Hah!

The soothsaying for the election dates was also the impetus for the Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0 rallies. They were held with the idea that election was coming, the former when it was speculated that election was to be last year, and the latter when the organisers were betting that it would be now.

Now, the date is said to be coming in between a Muslim and his haj pilgrimage, with Pas suggesting that its supporters defer the act of completing one of the pillars of Islamic faith for worldly politics.

It is of course par for the political course to insinuate the prime minister's nefarious scheme to call for elections during the haj season -- when he has not done so -- to deny the opposition their votes.

However, one then needs to ask what impact will 30,000 plus absent Muslims voters from all over the country have on the results of 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state assembly seats (minus Sarawak, of course).

Furthermore, are all haj pilgrims Pas supporters, or living in Kelantan?

I would think that more Malaysians would not be at the polls if elections were held at the end of the year, since tens of thousand of Malaysians travel, domestic or international, during the year end school holidays.

For my two sen worth of punditry, I would like to suggest that the elections be held soon during the fasting month. When fasting, a Muslim is sort of in a state of grace, minding his speech, behaviour, actions and thoughts. For the believers, doing good during the month will see reward many times over in the after life.

Of course the non-Muslims can continue with politics as usual, campaigning as vigorously, and perhaps as viciously.

But for the Muslims who are nearly two-thirds of the population, a decidedly muted campaign period -- minus the lies, slander and name calling -- would undoubtedly greatly lower the nation's political temperature. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

- New Straits Times