A NATIONAL REFERENDUM MORE THAN THE SYRIAN PRESIDENT ELECTION 2014?
– THE EXPERIENCES WATCHING
THE SYRIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS on 3 JUNE, IN THE CITY OF HOMS , SYRIA
(Filed by Mansor Puteh who was
an international observer of the Syrian presidential election.)
A total of 32 representatives
from 20 countries have been invited to be observers of the Syrian presidential
election which also included some parliamentarians, held on June 3 that saw
three candidates contesting – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Maher Hajar who
is a member of the Syrian parliament and an independent candidate, Hassan
Alnoori.
Much to my surprise I was invited
to be a member of the international observer team to monitor the elections, and
the only one invited from Malaysia
It was such a new job for me,
which I consider to be an extension of my interest in politics and matters
related to the humanities and film.
It also gave the opportunity
to mingle with those from other countries, including members of parliament from
several countries who were also invited to observe elections here.
Most of the other
participants composed of journalists and officials of anti-war and humanitarian
organizations in America and the West, which are used to doing such monitoring
of the elections of other countries.
Some came with some
preconceived ideas of what they were going to say or do, while I had none
whatsoever, having not been to Syria
I studied film at Columbia University
in New York City
And all observers were not
provided with any files or notes fill in the information can be considered as
an attempt to shape the thinking and perception.
It is to ensure the freedom
of participants to make their own views about what they see. None offered
theirs and we had to make our judgment ourselves.
The observers arrived in the
city of Damascus in Syria from Beirut and Tehran flown yesterday and were
immediately ushered to the VIP room at Damascus Airport where a discussion and
press conference was held by the organizers and officials who I could not
identify who they were.
And we were broken down into
a number of observers to monitor and observe the election process in some major
cities, to Aleppo, Tartus, Lattakia, Sweda, Homs, Damascus and the surrounding
areas, and so on.
I was sent to Homs in mounted an American-made GMC which is bullet-proof
vehicle with three others from the U.S.
and India , while others were
flown to the city of Aleppo is quite far from Damascus
I was lucky to be offered to
go to Homs in the north of Syria which had seen serious fighting between the
government forces and the rebels who were able to wrest control of the city,
only to surrender it back to the Syrian government in a deal the rebels had to
agree on when they were surrounded with no exit route for them to take to save
their lives.
But they had left behind many
buildings that had been destroyed completely which could take years to be
demolished and rebuilt so the city could regain some of its former glory and to
redevelop itself into a new city
Some estimated it would cost
the Syrian government some US$50 to US$60 billion to redevelop the whole
section of the city.
Unfortunately because of the
war, hundreds of millions of the people had fled to other areas in the country
including to the neighboring countries including to America
And I was fortunate to bump into some of them who were traveling in the Greyhound bus I was also traveling from
But a part of it was completely
destroyed which makes it look like a deserted or ghost town by itself with
virtually no one living there as electric and water supply had been cut, except
for the soldiers who are stationed there.
There could not be anyone
living there as there is no power or water supply. I could only see some
soldiers manning the streets, but it was not to prevent looting as there is
nothing left for anyone to do so.
Even mosques (or masjid) and
churches were not spared, and in one of the demolished churches is a polling
station.
There was not even a stray
cat or dog.
Syria is not yet ready to
rebuild areas in the city, waiting for the right time to do it because the
security situation here and the country is also uncertain yet with a range of
possibilities can happen, no matter who wins the election completed.
They did not know what else
could come their way, in the form of rocket attacks from somewhere.
There was the firing of two of the rockets which flew above the convoy of armored vehicles and SUVs as we were being driven from the capital city of
Of course all kinds of
accusations and can be thrown by the enemy, if President Bashar al-Assad is
elected by the voters, and with a high percentage.
We took almost two hours in a
convoy of vehicles with the office of the Governor of Homs stopover before
heading to the polling center.
And along the way, and in
Damascus itself does not seem banners, banners and posters of candidates
running, except the pictures and posters of Syrian President right now that
looks like it has long placed there, including in all schools where most of the
polling centers held.
Churches and buildings that
have been destroyed by the rebels has also become the center of the votes cast.
And we have met with a few
priests in the old church two speak Arabic with a French.
Although Homs
And rebels also do not bother
with who they were and continue to destroy the churches did not care, just as
mosques there.
We brought some of the
polling centers where we can see the poll is quite different from what is
practiced in Malaysia
And voters can also vote from
morning until night with term expiring seven votes can be connected if there
are many people who have not yet voted, to tick a blank circle below the photo
of the candidate of their choice as the voting slips only have the photos of
them and nothing else.
And more than that, voters
can cast their ballots in Syria at any polling center and not at special centers
where they live at, because it is not a parliamentary election for them to be
at any particular area to vote for the person they want to go to parliament.
From what has been observed
since the beginning of Syria
This is because almost all
voters, who have to be eighteen years of age seemed to know who to vote for,
long before the elections were held.
I could not find a person who
said he wanted to vote for the other two relatively unknown candidates. Why did
they bother to join in the elections, in the first place?
So it is not surprising that
the results of elections made the next day, 4 June, were clear; Bashar Al-Assad
won with a huge percentage of 88.7 percent with the 70 percent voter turnout.
After all, the two candidates
contesting the side characters in politics in Syria
This compares with President
Bashar al-Assad previously known since childhood, since his father, Hafiz
al-Assad to be president and associate and ally of major western superpowers
including the United States
Shouts of 'Allah, Syria, and Bashar!'
were often heard from his supporters near the polling stations especially when
they realize there are among us and who were recording them where street
parties were held by the ordinary citizens.
And pushing Bashar also meant
pushing everything, including the struggle for independence which was led by
groups such leaders first. The majority of the Syrians saw it as a betrayal of
the past legacy of his late father, Hafiz Al-Assad.
So the electoral process here
was not used by any party to offer rewards to the people for voting for him, so
no rose petty everyday or bread-and-butter issues, as the main thing for them
to remember was the plate to hold them that they wanted to be strong and not
break.
And in this sense, citizens
and voters in Syria
These elections also have two
other opportunities; which was to give citizens or voters in Syria the chance
to voice their support for the incumbent Syrian President, and also to other
countries in the West that seem particularly prone to criticize Arab countries
which are in turmoil that were created by outside intervention and other
unfriendly or enemy governments which habitually tried to create fiction
between the factions that were earlier created by them, a strategy that had
worked before.
It was therefore not a
surprise when the countries in the west especially the European Union (EU) had expressed
their displeasure at the way the elections are held and the results that had
been turned.
But what leaders in the West
do not realize is that for an Arab country like Syria, what is needed is a
strong leader and a party that has shown his services to liberate their country
from the occupying power, and who have developed their economic level until you
set it to another higher level where they can continue to progress in all
fields, to ensure greater social and cultural stability which is what Syria and
any other country in the Arab World needed to achieve.
They do not need new leaders to
suddenly prop out from nowhere, especially from behind bushes or desert caves
to declare that he had become the ‘new messiah’ for the people, and in whose
leadership the country and people could prosper even more.
The truth is that they wanted to achieve this by destroying what the countries had managed to get for themselves and their people.
If you want to say, all
western countries also observe this behavior when they are not given the
opportunity and support to new parties, and to keep the existence of the old
parties, the leaders who have been nurtured by the party system.
I have been asked from some
local people, where can I meet other supporters of two candidates from Bashar,
and areas where they can be said to have support.
They looked to the right and
left and shook their heads. No, they said.
And they continued to sing,
dance local dance called the ‘dabke’, with some firing their guns in the air
above them to celebrate Bashar’s win.
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