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I have the honour of having Oon Yeoh [ Read: Do we have free and fair elections? ] -- my mental sparring partner in blogs, technology, Internet and New Media -- write the foreword for my book, i-Witness, scheduled to be released on Nomination Day, February 24. Excerpts:

Jeff is a man with very strong views. I don't necessarily agree with him on many things. But I take my hat off to him for the copious amount of research he puts into any topic that he's blogging about. Disagree with his conclusions if you will, but you can't accuse him of not doing his homework. His commitment to double-checking his facts is prodigious.

That he's now running for a parliamentary seat – and is a viable candidate – is testament to the potential of New Media. In light of his political persona, it's sometimes easy to forget that Jeff is also a keen technology watcher.

Whenever I meet up with him for a teh tarik session, only half the time is spent talking about politics. The other half is devoted to ICT.

Now that Jeff's decided to run for public office, it's very timely that he puts together this compilation of his i-Witness columns, originally published in Malaysian Business magazine. It's always interesting looking back at a columnist's past articles, to see how right or wrong he was about a particular issue.

In a way, these articles will give you a better sense of the man you might be voting for.

Tomorrow, I will tell you to whom I dedicate my book, i-Witness'.

By the way, the little button you see on the top right-hand corner of this page is courtesy Malaysiakini.

The online news portal has decided to feature the 'GET A BLOGGER INTO PARLIAMENT' donation drive free-of-charge.

As at 13.10hr...

Donations received:
1 ) Maybank2U: RM18,968.01
2 ) PayPal: US$1,804.37 net after handling fee.

With the latest tally, that's about 25% of the target for this online campaign, i.e. to raise RM100,000 from readers of this blog.

Election Commission allows a maximum expenditure of RM200,000, for Parliament seat. I am targetting to raise 50% from donors at large, you readers, and the other 50% from internal resources and personal contacts.

The money will go into running the operations centre and polling machinery, printing and disseminating of election collaterals (including candidates' flyers and pamphlets running by tens of thousands), campaign ceramahs and feeding the army little troop of volunteers who will take leave, drop all tools, to help me.

To all who donate -- no amount is too small, a little few hundreds from here and there will do the job -- I will reciprocate your support each with an autographed copy of my book: i-Witness.

It's a compilation of my articles from 2002 to 2007 about Knowledge-based Economy, and about how to transform Penang's economic model in the context of K-economy.

RUNNING AGAINST KOH TSU KOON?

The Star said I will be standing for the Jelutung parliament seat while the vernacular press in Penang say Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon will also stand in the same constituency.

If both reports are true, I will, again, be the David versus the Goliath.

After weeks of rigorous groundwork, I find myself very vulnerable facing this General Election. The BN machinery, with $$$ to throw, is immensely formidable.

If you could help me raise some campaign funds, and do it superfast, please email me at jeff001 @ jeffooi.com. Or drop me an SMS at my exclusive data line: +6012-2944907.

For those who want to cut the chase, you can Maybank2U or ATM to my MBB Subang Jaya Account:

Name: OOI CHUAN AUN
Number: 512222409165

Please forward this blog entry to your friends and pass the word around. Thanks.