So Malaysians have just taken part in their 12th general election since independence, and wow! What an election it turned out to be! This was one of the most significant elections in Malaysian history, with the Barisan Nasional losing five states (Selangor, Perak, Penang, Kedah, and Kelantan) and Kuala Lumpur.
Barisan Nasional will still form the federal government but have lost their two-thirds majority in parliament. That means they won’t be able to hack away at the constitution like they did in the past (I learned recently that the BN government has amended the constitution 690 times, which is astounding compared to the few times the constitutions of many other countries have been amended).
Malaysia now has a strong opposition, for the first time since 1969. The balance of power in the country looks way better than it ever has.
Leen and I were down in Johor over the weekend; when we arrived back in Selangor this evening, it was the first time I set foot in a state not run by BN. Apparently the Chief Minister of this state will be PKR’s Khalid Ibrahim. So it’s bye-bye to Khir Toyo.
A few other big names were pushed out of the spotlight as well. No more Samy Vellu. No more ZAM—maybe there were some ‘Pan-Asians’ in his constituency. Sharizat lost in Lembah Pantai, a loss which might not draw the same applause as the two I’ve just mentioned, but it’s still exciting in its own way as she makes way for Nurul Izzah of PKR, daughter of Anwar Ibrahim.
Speaking of Anwar, looks like he’s coming back in a big way. And it looks like he has more influence than the government thought. Of course, there must have been people within BN who knew that PKR and the other parties were stronger than some people thought, but the Prime Minister is surrounded by yes men. So the results of this election really were a big shock to a lot of people, even those right at the top.
The success of PAS, DAP and PKR is really something, given the ridiculous controls the BN government has had over the media. Somehow, those parties were able to reach out to the people. In a way, it wasn’t so much them winning as BN losing, a loss they were walking straight into. But still, the other parties deserve a nod for being able to do what they did without the access to the media enjoyed by BN. Blogs played a big part in their success, I think. In fact, a couple of prominent bloggers have even managed to get themselves elected. Congrats to them!
So now we’ve got a strong Opposition in Parliament, two more states controlled by PAS (heading coalition governments in Perak and Kedah), a DAP-controlled Penang, and a coalition in Selangor headed by PKR. Wow.
Looks like the next five years will be very interesting indeed.
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The sky is falling… not.
I’m not sure if the post-election euphoria has worn off, but the dip in the KLCI would be enough to make the well-heeled executive pee in his pants. I guess such a reaction is predictable, given the nature of Malaysia’s economy and how so m…
8 Comments
It sure will be! :)
- MENJ
I don’t think anyone expected this kind of win. Certainly there was plenty of evidence, but at least for me I figured that the election process was so skewed in favor of Barisan that any increase in popular support would have been countered by the uneven election system.
The fact that the Opposition won big, I guess, has proven me wrong. For one it feels nice to be wrong. I could get used to this :D
Of course, we’re now in completely uncharted waters. What will the next four years be like? I dunno, we’ve never had this sort of thing happen before. That in itself is rather dismaying and rather heartening news — dismaying because we don’t exactly will know what’ll happen next, and heartening because, at least this one time, the Malaysian political universe seems to make sense again.
perhaps yes, blogs may have helped their success. Not to say more, but increasing ‘nonsense’ on mainstream media may have brought people to opt for cybernews. And far more credible, i suppose. (even in my area Subang Jaya, the new MP Hanna has a blog. Even that Gwo-Burne of Kelana Jaya. =))
and yes, record breaking, too, as Selangor has never been under Opposition’s hand. It’s like being in a new experience too. (Perhaps it’s too early to say that!)
J.Mac,
Perhaps Khir Toyo will go back being a dentist, just as he was before becoming the Chief Minister. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll be working with your wife. Wouldn’t that be just awesome?
err..did leen vote? :)~
MENJ: Heck, it’s only been just over a week and things have already been interesting.
T-Boy: Funny how things only start to make sense when a little bit of chaos is poured into the soup. I like it though.
Mutalib: Yes, too early to say anything, I guess, because now anything could happen. But that just makes it more interesting.
Ben: Nah, he has his own clinic. But you know, it would be good for him to work with my wife, since working in government hospitals has given her some experience with plastic surgery…
Jehan: Not this time. She wanted to, but she only became interested in the elections a month or two before they were held, and by that time it was too late to register. Next time, next time…
As for Sammy Vellu - I couldn’t be happier, menteri sudah diturunkan, tol bila nak turun?. For Dato’ Shahrizat… donno what was wrong, maybe it’s time to make way for my generation.
They can talk about Hukum Hudud, Islam Hadhari (I think, this could be the reason why non-Malays feel uncomfortable, and I believe many Malays too feel skeptical about its relevancy - I am still confused what is it our PM is trying to convey through Islam Hadhari), they shout for justice and equality… at the end, all that matters comes back to the $$$ question - how stable, how cheap are things, how many projects, how developed are we, how the country is progressing…
I personally prefer Malaysia to be led by scientists, not socialist. A doctor gives medicine to cure, an engineer builds thing for improvement, an architect designs new thing, a dentist removes the pain - these verbs, are practical for leading the country to progress. What a socialist does? Talks rubbish…
and I don’t trust a lawyer, I mean lier.
hi there. first time here and naturally intrigued by the election entry. ;P
it’s quite interesting that two-thirds of the seats aren’t BN’s. and i’m not sure how the next 4 years will be for m’sia, but i hope things will turn out for the better. i was quite restless for not being there during the election period (as i’m studying abroad), so hopefully the uproar about the wins of BA/the loss of BN (whichever appropriate) has already died down by now and national developments have finally started.
as for the last comment nizar made, i agree that science is very useful in predicting outcomes, but don’t you think it is just too theoretical? not that i’m supporting socialism, but not everything can be resolved based on direct cause-and-effect theories or trial-and-error methods. i think the government should consist of scientists as well as liberal-minded intellectuals (tho this might not exclude socialists or lawyers…) to have more humaneness in the governing, because when you really come down to it, the population of m’sia isn’t just merely a number, it’s a number of human lives.
(humble 2 cents of a random bloghopper) =)