On the campus elections in local universities just concluded, I am compelled to write a few words to share the little experience that I have gained over the past few years in the hope that students will in future be able to cast wiser and more informed votes.

It is common knowledge that there are two sides to all campus elections – the ‘government’ and the opposition. In UM, they are known as Penggerak Mahasiswa and Pro Mahasiswa respectively. Unfortunately, the mentality of most of us students is to vote for a candidate based on the party he/she represents.

After a year in the council, I have realised that both sides are equally bad. Or equally good, depending on your perspective.

Penggerak Mahasiswa is a slippery bunch. No one really knows who leads it. No one knows where the money comes from. The secretariat of the presidents of the residential colleges in UM play a very active but unproven role.

In previous years, this side manages to get the support from the residential colleges and those not in this party were actually thrown out of the college and denied a place of residence for the upcoming semester.

Their finances are a mystery and the candidates under Penggerak Mahasiswa team will not have to fork out a single cent of their own. Their election machinery would usually be prepared for them by the residential colleges, which is obviously unfair to the others.

Pro Mahasiswa, on the other hand seems to enjoy being arrested by the authorities.

Demonstrations and illegal gatherings seem to be a favourite past time. They are generally quite stubborn and will not really listen to logical reasoning. Adhering to the rules is not one of their strong points. The recent protest during the nomination of candidates is a classic example.

I was a member of the student council for the 2008/2009 council, heading the bureau of unity and community affairs and the representative of the faculty of medicine. While I was in the council, there were some council members who didn’t turn up for a single meeting in the whole year. They were from both sides of the divide, again reinforcing the fact that there are bad apples in every bag.

Interestingly enough people thought I had ‘no stand’ as I would support issues based on the issue itself and not the party that raised it. Such is the reflection of national politics: if I am in party A, everything that party A stands for is correct and party B would be consistently wrong. And vice versa. When the council (as does the government) spends most of their waking hours fighting over such petty issues, the students suffer (similarly for the citizens, in the case of the government).

So let’s learn to look at the candidates as individuals. Just because he’s associated with Penggerak Mahasiswa does not mean he will swindle all your money and spend it on his best friends.

Just because she is from Pro Mahasiswa doesn’t mean that she will deliberately break the rules and stubbornly refuse to listen to logical reasoning. The list goes on and on. And both sides are equally dirty and you’ll be surprised to see how childish they can be too.

As for the banners that had sprout up, please don’t be fooled by the size or the colour of the banners as they mean nothing. A flyer in support of Pro Mahasiswa could very well have been put up by Penggerak in an attempt to frame them. Or vice versa. A party that has more publicity material around campus just means that they have a more organised machinery and says nothing about the capabilities of their candidates.

While I was in the council, I had fast friends from both sides of the divide and the small group that we had taught me that friendship and unity is possible even under such circumstances. I am thankful that the few of us had managed to break away from these prejudices and stereotypes of one another.

Therefore I hope that students have not cast their vote based on the party they represent but rather cast it based on the capability of the candidate.

The writer is currently a final year medical student in the University of Malaya, an ex-student council member and a worried Malaysian.