Galas Oh Galas!!!!!

It is reported that YAM Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had officially accepted his appointment as the "Pengarah Pilihanraya" for the by election of DUN Galas (N45), Kelantan ... I believe this is out of the norm as it is traditionally an accepted 'convention" in BN that any by election would be headed by YAB DPM - perhaps DUN Galas is special/peculiar since it is in Kelantan? Well, Manik Urai is also in Kelantan - where BN lost by 65 votes - and it was led by YAB DPM so as several other previous by elections nation wide before DUN Galas ....

One thing for sure, it is not for me to speculate .....

DUN N45 Galas fell vacant when YB Chek Hashim Sulaima of PAS died of cancer on 27 September 2010. Below are some trivia re: DUN Galas:

1. Total registered voters @ 11,553
2. Race by percentage - Malays @ 61.67% (7,125), Chinese @ 20.06% (2,317)with Orang Asli (1,889), Indian (185), Sarawak Bumiputeras (10) and other ethnic groups - whatever that means!!! - 27. There are also 127 postal voters.
3. PAS won the last 2008 General Election by a majority of 646 votes.
4. The Election Commission (EC) is expected to fork out RM1.3 million for the by election due to the extensive/topography of the area which is under the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency i.e. under YAM YB Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
5. The youngest voter is 21 and the eldest 111.

I am not going to delve on the politics of DUN Galas ... Leave it to the politicians as they are the "political animals" here... I just want to touch on the linguistics/semantic aspect of the word "Galas"

According to "Kamus Dewan" (Edisi Ketiga) DBP KL (2002), "galas" means "kayu yang dipikul untuk mengandar (mengangkut, membawa) barang-barang, kandar, pengandar, gandar" (carrying something by suspending it from both ends of a pole that is resting on the shoulder) or " beban yang dikandar dengan galas (kayu)".

Meanwhile the same "Kamus Dewan" states the meaning of "menggalas" as " memikul barang-barang dengan galas (kandar)", "mengandar" or "memikul atau menanggung (tanggungjawab, masalah dsb)...

There are several "peribahasa Melayu" which revolve around the word "galas" - I stand to be corrected if I am wrong in quoting these "peribahasa" - , they are as follows:

" galas habis senggulung tandas, namun dihitung rugi jua" which means " pekerjaan yang tidak menguntungkan";

" dilihat galas berlaba, dihitung pokok termakan" which means " zahirnya untung tetapi sebenarnya rugi";

" bagai menyandang galas tiga berat tak berapa rintangnya yang lebih" meaning " pekerjaan yang senang tetapi susah hendak melakukannya."

Well, it is up to you to interpret and/or use the above linguistic terms as an analogy to DUN Galas .....

Lastly, is it not there is also a "peribahasa Melayu" which goes like this? - "Seperti menggalas biawak hidup" ... Care to give me the meaning of this "peribahasa"? .....

Good night & till we meet again .....