Giants and minnows, onwards to the next round

The second round of voting is due on Dec 2nd when the hopes and chances of the remaining few will elevated, while others will start the process of licking their wounds and hope to live for another election. The vast majority will probably feel like expended forces and they might do the honourable thing by stepping aside for someone else to take up the forthcoming battles in four years’ time.

But it’s a bit too early to think of that, now is the time to tighten the belts, roll up the sleeves and get down and dirty to ensure that the remaining few good people actually gather the required votes to enter parliament victorious and take their seats to serve the people of this country. As most of those left are of the liberal persuasion, they are sorely needed to provide a balance to a chamber that looks a distinct bastard born of Saudi and Iran, at least in personal appearances if not in fact (we hope!)

To me, it doesn’t take too much to select any of the remaining prospective MPs, in fact, I already told you – more or less – of what the ideal make-up of parliament would be based on the current offering. Let me further clarify now in all the remaining districts in which liberals are fighting for the honour of representing us, simple opportunistic climbers are also making a go for it whilst spending what would have housed, fed, and educated quite a number of families… yet that is furthest from the opportunist’s minds, of course.

Steps have been taken a few years ago when some people fixed their minds on a seat in parliament; so much so, they probably already ordered and received one of those gawky name-plates tooled with a long-dead elephant’s tooth chips to shape their hallowed names. One such step is to get elected to the Chamber of Commerce, which has become a launch pad at least for the experience in commercial electioneering, add to that the sponsorship of a few mundane and lackluster sporting events for neighbourhoods the requirement of which is to emblazon a name boldly on a banner which is worth more than what has been expended to mount such tournaments, including the provision of sports kits already embroidered with their benefactor’s name.

Oh, and just to cover the bases, why not go for the environment and create a scheme to plant a few hundred trees completely paid for by big business and if you are lucky enough to get that press release into a national paper, then use its name too as one of your supporters. Little did this climber think of the day where he will actually be challenged by such paper which shamefully demanded the removal of their name from the plethora of billboards that candidate erected all around the country.

Is this enough to guarantee a place in parliament though? Probably not, but with the expenditure of a few more bags of cash, the origins of which are suspect, you are at least assured of getting through to the second phase. And what victory would that be when run against a national hero in a country where the subservience to even improperly placed avid religious instructions are followed for fear of eternal hellfire and ostracisation awaits all those who force some friction between brain cells, or even worse, when the expenditure of cash would ensure even a faster route to nirvana.

Enter Mr. Abdulhakim Al-Shimmary, of “those cartoons‘” fame, whom some call by his “original” name before acquiring the designer sounding one he now sports: bin Jaafar, who has gone through the steps to achieve a run off against one of the country’s tireless opposition and liberal figures: Mr. Abdulaziz Abul. The temerity of bin Jaafar is actually astounding; he came out from the voting centre last night arms high, victorious, thinks he, even before the final count… does bin Jaafar actually know things that we don’t?

فما أن أغلق باب مركز التصويت في مدرسة حليمة السعدية الإعدادية للبنات في السقية، حتى خرج الشمري من الباب رافعاً يديه في علامة للنصر، وسط هتافات عالية وقوية لمؤيديه، رد عليها مباشرة مؤيدو المترشح عزيز أبل بقوة. واستمر تبادل الهتافات القوية والاستفزازية والتصفيق الحاد نحو عشرين دقيقة، أخذت الهتافات بعدها بعداً جارحاً، بعد أن رفع كلا الطرفين صور مرشحيها وأعلامها وشعارات

Al-Wasat :: 26 Nov, ’06

Abdulhakim, how can you even start to compare yourself with giants like Abul, when all you are really is nothing more than a minnow, an opportunistic nobody whom history has already forgotten?

Would you do the honourable thing and make way for a real gentleman to come through?

I somehow, doubt it. But if people know what’s good for them, if they just look a little beyond end ends of their noses and your “incentives”, you will not be needed to do that. People will just continue to pass you by, as they will continue to do so regardless of this outcome, completely unnoticed.