GE13 campaign ads provide comic relief

Amidst the tension that nomination day has unleashed, from the DAP logo issue to the various Independents disputes, netizens appear to be finding the comic relief in the various campaign ads therapeutic.

One Facebook posting delighted in BN’s Lembah Pantai candidate Raja Nong Chik’s ad listing his glowing achievements in the area of drain repairs.

The billboard screams Nong Chik’s “1Malaysia Lembah Pantai Achievements” and proudly boasts three drains in the Bangsar area that the incumbent Federal Territories Minister has upgraded or repaired.

Nong Chik has made it a campaign theme against the incumbent PKR parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar to ask what she had done for her constituents.

However he ducked Nurul’s challenge in February for a face to face debate to clear the air.

Dozens of posters ridiculed Nong Chik’s ad, one asking where their DBKL contributions have gone, if the minister has to claim credit for the drain works.

“Forgive him. That's what BN can offer ... a Longkang MP that is,” sneered another commentator, while one quipped, “Only drains? No other (achievements)?”

‘Sing song candidate’

MCA’s Bukit Bintang candidate Frankie Gan Joon Zin meanwhile received scorn for his over ten foot high billboard trumpeting his musical skills to canvass support.

“I won the East Coast singing competition championship in 1983 when I was 17 years old” blared the gaudy advertisement. 

As proof, a newspaper clipping of the momentous occasion is even reproduced in the bottom right corner of the billboard.

The MCA candidate even put up aYoutube video of himself singing for GE13 to woo voters with his vocal prowess.

Posted on a Facebook page, the photo drew laughs and sarcastic comments such as, “Aiyo, this party only likes to sing song, dance; what else can they do?”

Gan’s vocal prowess inadvertently backfired with jokes centred on the phrase “sing song”, a Chinese metaphor for spinning and lying.

Gerakan Teratai candidate Liew Pok Boon was not spared asFacebook users poked fun at his large ‘Hi Pasar (market), how are you?’ banner as largely meaningless. 

“Is he asking the market to vote for him?” quipped one netizen, while others joked about the relevance of the market’s well-being to the general election.

MCA: Vote for DAP and PAS

Another advertisement that backfired was MCA’s full page colour blitz in all the major Chinese and English dailies yesterday, warning voters that a vote for DAP would mean a vote for PAS.

The ad depicted a red voting slip being placed into a green ballot box.

However the captions wrote, “Vote wisely: 1 vote for DAP, 1 vote for PAS” in the original print run of the ad that was even put up as a three-storey high banner.

The blunder, particularly clear in the Chinese language, sparked mirth among netizens about MCA unwittingly telling the voters to give a vote each to the two Pakatan parties.

The ads were promptly corrected in this morning’s round of dailies to read, ‘Wrong choice’.

The banner that perhaps hit hardest below the belt to date was the Pakatan-coloured suspender dig, taking off from the recent sex video aimed at PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali.

The video famously showed the character putting on his white briefs, and the same model of underwear made its appearance amongst BN supporters during nomination day inKuantan.

The banner meanwhile appeared in Batu Sapi, reported PAS from Sabah last night.

‘Whose suspenders is this? Who has lost his suspenders?’ read the banner reportedly put up near the nomination centre for the state seat under Sandakan.

“BN just doesn’t give up with its vulgar politics. Even at such a time (nomination day), they bring out their underwear,” said PAS Batu Sapi candidate Hamzah Abdullah.

“I would not have guessed nominations for candidates would be defiled by that underwear. It doesn’t set a good example for the rakyat,” he said.