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Running for VP

Hi all,

This is a personal post, I recently ran for VP for Brunei Cyber Security Association and lost… but I’m not giving up! I will continue to contribute to the community and help out where I can. I’m also looking forward to the next AGM and will run again. Wish me luck!

I do have some comments on how the whole election was run though, I’ll just jot them here for future reference:

  1. Nominees: Somehow, the committee had a tough time releasing the list of nominees prior to the event. It was only released on the week of the election, which was a bit late. I think it would be better if the list was released earlier so that the members can get to know the nominees better. Additionally, the list did not even include the nominees’ background or what they plan to do if they were elected. This is crucial information for the members to make an informed decision. I hope this can be improved in the future.

  2. Voting: I understand the constitution mentions voting needs to be done via a secret ballot. However, I think it would be better if the members can vote online. This would make it easier for members to vote and increase the participation rate. Due to this limitation, I only saw probably less than 40% of the registered members voting. This seems a bit low and you can’t blame the members too when access to voting is limited. This is a bit outrageous because the association is supposed to be a tech association and access to technology should not be a problem. Especially since AGM is already known to happen weeks or months before the event.

  3. Emphasis on Volunteers: I think there was too much emphasis on everyone being a volunteer at the event. I understand that everyone working for the association are volunteers with day jobs. We are too, but the whole emphasis on that shouldn’t be too much. It’s like saying “Hey, we’re all volunteers, so don’t expect much from us”. I think it’s better to focus on the work that needs to be done and how we can all contribute to it. I think this would be a better approach.

  4. Post Event Update: It has been a week since the AGM now, and there has been no update on the association’s website or social media. I think it would be good to have a post-event update to let the members know what’s next and what the association plans to do in the future. This would keep the members engaged and excited about the association.

  5. Transparency: As an association whose message includes the promotion of transparency, there was a very heavy opaque feel to the whole election process.

  • The list of nominees felt incomplete, people were sure to have submitted more nominees but didn’t see them in the list. If the process was to only choose top N of the list, then that list should still have been shared since the community is still quite small.
  • Ballots weren’t counted in front of the members, and the results were announced without any details on the number of votes each candidate received.
  • There was unnecessary withdrawal during the AGM too, where the candidate withdrawn during the their speech. This was a bit odd and I think it would be better if the candidate withdrew before the AGM because then the members would have known that there was one less candidate to vote for. I think this would have been a more transparent approach.

Given all these though, the event was still a success and really appreciate the work put into organizing it.

I hope these comments are taken constructively and I hope to see improvements in the future. I’m looking forward to the next election and I hope to see more members participating in it. I’m also looking forward to contributing to the association in any way I can.