A New Malaysia...hopefully

Well, I guess Malaysians woke up to a shell-shocked government and Opposition - the former never expected to be hit so bad, the latter never expected to win so big. But that is the reality on 9th March 2008. The despised BN had lost their 2/3 majority, and also lost Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the loose coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS. While there is some sense of stability in the fact that BN would continue to form the government via a simple majority, observers and citizens are generally cautious on how the country would move on from her. Understandably, thanks to years of repeated brainwashing, the spectre of May 13 1969 weighs heavy on the thoughts of many. Do not worry. This time, we Malaysians as a whole have to much to lose to allow such senseless incident to happen. After all, history is man's greatest teacher!

Judging from the columns and reports in the mainstream media (propaganda machine of the government), the spin-doctors are scrambling to come up with credible reasons for the heavy slap in the face. Gerakan, MIC and MCA lost big-time; UMNO too lost credibility. The loss of Perak, Selangor and Perak were the least expected, though there were some rumours early last week that Kedah and Perlis might fall to the opposition. Selangor and Perak are surprising catches for the Opposition. The question is now how the Government, and foreign investors would react to the changed political landscape. Well, there will be the usual knee-jerk reaction but things would eventually stabilise.

How would I expect the Government to react? No different. It will be business as usual. They can ostracise one state like Kelantan...but to do the same to another four states, with one of them in the Malay heartland would be like digging their own political graves. I expect all projects and developments to carry on as planned, especially the NCER, lest more ammo is given to the Opposition four years down the road. Would Selangor and Perak be marginalised? Most definitely not. In my opinion, I expect even more effort be put in by the BN as well as the victorious Opposition to win the hearts of the populace in all five states - you can say we will have the best of both worlds.

The political future of Gerakan and MIC, and to a smaller extent MCA, is not so clear however. UMNO would be badly shaken up as well. They had not expected the swing in the Malay votes and had counted heavily on it to retain their 2/3 majority. Whether this would herald a more conciliatory UMNO or otherwise remains to be seen. One thing is clear for sure...there'll be big changes this year. I just hope that it is for the better.

I guess this is what you get when you treat Malaysians for fools. They keep blaming the rise in essential items, food etc. as being the cause of their loss. I opine that is not the case. It is the sheer arrogance of UMNO and timidity of its so-called comrades-in-arms that led to its defeat. It's simple: they have failed to tackle the basic problems that faced the country - corruption, crime, sheer wastage of taxpayers funds and loss of competitiveness - and instead thumbed their noses at the rakyat by acting roughshod over the BERSIH and HINDRAF gathering. Oi, Bodowi...we are not so stupid anymore! And we must of course congratulate the alternative media, such as the Internet, for the transmission of credible news! Without it, we would still be hearing and believing the lies as we had for many years!

One thing I'm very excited about though - once we Malaysians throw off the yoke of May 13, there is a possibility that the Opposition may give BN a run for their money at the next election. Once people see that Opposition gaining control of the states does not lead to chaos, BN would have lost their trump card they have used all these years. Of course this depends on how the Opposition does over the next five years - I believe they would not waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is time for celebration. But they better get to work soon because there is so much work to be done.

But let's just savour this day a bit longer Malaysia...