29 April 2013
1. Wide of Petronas Twin Towers
22 April 2013
2. Pan right from street to shop
3. Close up sign written (Malay): TUKAR, Transformasi Kedai Runcit (TUKAR, Grocery Store Transformation)
4. Wide of Syahadad Husin looking at computer screen inside his shop
5. Close up of Husin
6. Goods on shelves in Husin's shop
7. Wide of Husin doing stock check
8. SOUNDBITE: (Malay) Syahadad Husin, shopkeeper:
"All of us must support the government because of what the government has genuinely done to help us."
9. Various of Ng Sek San planting colourful flags on grassy roundabout
10. Close up of colourful flags
11. SOUDNBITE (English) Ng Sek San, Landscape Architect:
"It's a very literal interpretation of what spring is. In a temperate climate you've got four seasons. When you change from dark, cold winter days into spring, everything becomes brighter and everybody gets more excited."
24 April 2013
12. Pan from street to Barisan Nasional (National Front) campaign post
13. Medium of banner showing picture of Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, reading (Malay): "The right leader for One Malaysia. Vote for Barisan Nasional"
22 April 2013
14. Various of Ng Sek San planting flags
15.SOUDNBITE: (English) Ng Sek San, Landscape Architect:
"Change has already taken place, whether we like it or not. A regime change, I guess, is important because the present regime has probably ruled for so long, and it's no secret that people are unhappy with a lot of things."
16. Various of student Joy Gracia Liso looking at her laptop
17. Reverse shot of Liso looking at facebook page
18.SOUNDBITE: (English) Joy Gracia Liso, student:
"Because everyone that I know goes back, at least they go back to Penang or Johor, even my roommate is going back, and to see them being able to go back, it kind of like envy me (made me envious), kind of made me like 'what am I doing here? Why can't I go back?' Especially that is my land, and this land is being, you know, manipulated in so many ways, why can't I be in that part. Now that I get the funds to go back, I just can't wait (to vote)."
19. Wide of Liso looking at paintings
Malaysians face a stark choice on Sunday in their most hotly contested general elections ever: Stick with what they know, a long-ruling coalition accused of corruption, or take a chance on an untested opposition.
Some of the Southeast Asian nation's 13.3 (m) million eligible voters believe the National Front, which has dominated politics since independence from Britain in 1957, must be ousted to cleanse the government. They are rallying behind opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Supporters of incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak respond that change is too risky and unnecessary.
A five-minute drive from Kuala Lumpur's ceaselessly photographed Petronas Twin Towers, where a street-level mall lures shoppers and tourists to sparkling boutiques run by brands like Chanel and Gucci, Syahadad Husin smiles and nods at visitors to a grocery shop owned by his family in one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods.
The Malaysian entrepreneur's store is tiny, his customers are far from well-heeled and his shelves are stocked mainly with canned sardines and 30-cent packets of instant noodles.
He represents the kind of voter that the National Front has targeted the most by offering state-funded help. This year, Syahadad's profits nearly doubled after he participated in a government programme to help small businesses by providing them with cheap loans and free professional advice on managing their operations more efficiently.
"All of us must support the government because of what the government has genuinely done to help us," Syahadad said, echoing the ubiquitous message that the National Front is pushing through TV and radio commercials, highway billboards, full-page newspaper advertisements, glossy pamphlets stuffed into mailboxes and cellphone text messages.
The publicity blitz also warns that the opposition cannot be trusted to rule. The National Front says that if its rivals win, foreign investors will eventually flee Malaysia and leave the country in financial tatters.
But for landscape architect Ng Sek San and most opposition supporters, the theme that really resonates is "change".
Ng Sek San has earned praise for his work in Malaysian hotels and parks, but he considers his latest initiative,called the "Malaysian Spring," to be among his most ambitious.
The volunteer movement that he and his friends introduced through Facebook this past month has prompted residents of Kuala Lumpur's suburbs to hand-produce and plant tens of thousands of colourful miniature flags in grassy sidewalks and playgrounds, symbolising their hope for a fresh political start.
"It's a very literal interpretation of what spring is," Ng said in an interview at his office and gallery, which showcases his designs and works by Malaysian artists. "When you change from dark, cold winter days into spring, everything becomes brighter and everybody gets more excited."
The movement has attracted mainly middle-class Malaysians such as Ng, who feel strongly about clean government. For decades, most voters were content to let the long-ruling National Front coalition lead, as Malaysia steadily evolved from a backwater of rubber plantations, tin mines, fishing villages and rice paddies into an industrialised country that manufactures microchips and solar panels and even boasted the world's tallest building - the gleaming 88-story Petronas Twin Towers - for nearly six years.
Now a growing bank of educated middle class voters is tiring of widely alleged corruption and accusations that the National Front has become bloated with self-serving politicians who enrich themselves and their business friends.
Thanks to the internet, such perceptions have spread in recent years, as independent news websites and bloggers investigate government contracts and the use of public funds.
"A regime change, I guess, is important because the present regime has probably ruled for so long, and it's no secret that people are unhappy with a lot of things," Ng said.
Joy Gracia Liso is one of more than 2 (m) million people who are registered to vote for the first time. The opposition hopes these new voters in particular will feel bold enough about handing a five-year mandate to its candidates.
Walking through a campus hall that will host her graduation ceremony in October, Liso says she's more excited about voting than getting her degree in teaching.
Her father, a retired policeman, helped her raise 350 ringgit (115 US dollars) - a month's living expenses for her - to buy a flight ticket so that she can return to her home state in Borneo to vote. Liso is making the extra effort partly because she feels the odds are stacked unfairly in favour of the National Front.
She says that her rural relatives in the Kelabit indigenous tribe have told her they had received money in exchange for supporting National Front candidates in previous elections. The ruling coalition has long denied claims that it buys or tampers with votes in closely fought constituencies.
For many opposition supporters, the alleged dirty tactics depict the difference between a ruling coalition that's desperate to avoid losing and an opposition that's largely untested - but also untainted.
