This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 7, 2022 - November 13, 2022

As a mid-GenX-er, I am privileged to have experienced the leaps and bounds of technological advancement first-hand. I have spent thousands of ringgit on my music collection — not because I’m an aficionado, but because I have had to migrate from cassettes to CDs, to MP3s, to now a monthly-subscription on an app. (Each time, the thought of having to spend money re-buying my favourite albums made me weep!)

My secondary school assignments were typed on my mother’s Brother typewriter. When I started university, my father got me an electric typewriter. Later, my undergraduate dissertation was done on a hernia-inducing IBM 486. For my graduate studies, I invested in a Dell laptop, which was a “lightweight” 2kg. My three closest friends pooled together to get me a one-gigabyte gold-tipped thumb drive as a good luck present. I was awestruck — one GIGABYTE in a device that was smaller than my thumb!

Two weeks ago, at the Election Commission headquarters in Putrajaya, I watched a young reporter file her story using just her mobile phone and a Bluetooth keyboard that could be folded up and kept in a small handbag.

I will never stop being impressed by how much technology has made life easier for us. As late as the turn of the century (!), I was going to the post office to pay my bills. Now I just online-bank them. Last month, a colleague was ill and didn’t have a Covid-19 swab test kit — so she just Grab-ed it.

But the height of my wonderment occurred during the Movement Control Orders when, sick and tired of being incarcerated at home, all I wanted was to eat some durian. But how? Ordinary citizens were not allowed to drive up and down trunk roads looking for durian — had I applied for a permit to do so, I’m sure the police would have laughed me out of the station! Thankfully, the durian sellers had been resourceful enough to set up an account with Lazada. And just like that, I could order durian whenever I wanted, and fresh durian would be delivered to my doorstep the very next day. Isn’t modern technology marvellous!

Recently, I fell victim to credit card fraud and had to cancel my card and order a new one. That left me with a conundrum: How was I going to have my lunch? The office café was a cashless enterprise; and, though I’m no Luddite, I still hadn’t got myself an e-wallet. But by the time my replacement card arrived, I was so adept at mobile banking that I sometimes had to suppress the urge to take out my phone with a Mr Bean-esque flourish.

I don’t think I will ever get over the excitement of how fast things can get done online. Last month, in preparation for the general election, I had to make a new Information Department (Japen) media card, and then with that, apply for an Election Commission (EC) media tag. And I had three working days with which to do it. A decade ago, it would have been impossible to do so without running up to Putrajaya in person. This time, however, with the help of my office’s super-efficient administration staff, I applied for everything online, and, with Japen and EC staff burning the midnight oil on the other end, I got all my accreditation within the stipulated time frame. And I didn’t even have to get up from my desk!

As the drumbeats pick up pace for the election, inevitably the problem of BalikUndi arises — bus, plane and train tickets not only increase in price but also become sold out, as Malaysian voters rush to ensure that they can “go home” to vote. And as with previous elections, I am angry with these voters for not having changed the addresses on their identification cards (IC) and then updating their voting address to where they live now. National registration laws require everyone residing in Malaysia to change their residential address after 90 days of moving — but no one abides by it. All that is needed is to go to any National Registration Department office, show proof of residence with either a utility bill or an employer’s endorsement letter, and the change can be made in the IC’s chip. Then go to any EC office or a post office and make the corresponding change in polling information. In fact, both these things can be done at any UTC (Urban Transformation Centre), which is open from 8am to 10pm, every day of the week — so the change could be done almost any time at the voter’s convenience. And though this might take an hour or two, surely that’s far better than the expense of taking leave and heading “home” to vote?

Unfortunately, it’s too late for that now. The electoral roll to be used stops at Aug 31. 

If we won’t help ourselves, there’s only so much technology can help us with.

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