A New Malaysia

March 11th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized

When I got up late Sunday , I could not help thinking that this is a new country now. Unfortunately, we in Sabah failed to read the signs of a new Malaysia many people want.

Even though they still won the elections, the powerful Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has been ruling the country since independence failed for the first time to secure a two- thirds majority in the 222 seat Parliament and on top of that they lost five peninsular states to the opposition.

I expected the opposition to win at least 60-65 seats in Parliament, instead they secured 82 seats ,well beyond everyone’s expectations. The BN ,managed to get only 49% of the popular votes in the peninsular, without the 54 seats contributed by Sabah and Sarawak, they would have been hard pressed to form a simple majority government.

Is Kuala Lumpur going to reward us for this blind loyalty? We have to wait and see. If they don’t, chances are Sabah will go to the other side in the next elections or maybe sooner than we think.

We have done it before, we’ll do it again.

Even in the just concluded elections, there were some pointers indicating this, the heavily Chinese populated areas in Sabah actually voted for the opposition. Simple arithmetic shows if the opposition had worked together,they would have won plenty in these areas, BN won because of the split votes.

And my own estimate indicates that about 40% of local Malay votes went to PKR. Remember PKR does not have good local leaders who can galvanise the voters, also the party does not have a strong political machinery in the state.

Friends told me if not for the postal votes, many BN winners would have been yesterday’s papers.

For the incumbents, they have to work harder for the next four to five years, if they think they are in it for the spoils, wait for the tsunami next time round.

Show the people you are there to serve them. If you think it’s business as usual, you’d better think twice, every one is watching for that one wrong move.

Many people think Badawi should resign for the debacle. Then, in UMNO feudal culture, their people don’t worry too much about accountability, or for that matter, nobody should ask any critical questions, they are trained like Pavlov’s dog to be grateful to their leaders.

I thought those days were over especially with the new political equation in the country!

Then, old habits die hard, many of our politicians are slow learners. Let’s shoot straight here, Badawi is now seen as a liability to the party and so is his son-in-law. Somebody in UMNO must be brave enough to tell him so, Mahathir did that to Tunku; otherwise UMNO will be consigned to the dustbin of history soon.

This election is less about race but more about issues like corruption, economic opportunities ,rising prices and crimes, arrogance of power et al that bug us all as citizens of the country. We are in the same boat, don’t divide and rule us. Fair is fair. the voters seem to say.

As for politicians who have been around far too long, please make you exit gracefully. Pairin.for example, should learn the lesson taught to Sammy Vellu.

You don’t want your own community to do the same to you. Respectful as we are as Asians, understand the signs, please.

As a Sabahan, I have seen it all.

Three different parties with three different ideologies governing as one entity, can they get their act together?

They might portray themselves as the saviours of the country now, once the realities of power set in, many will be tempted by the devil.

One party believes in the chopping of hands , the other party believes in a Malaysian Malaysia, I am not clear what the other party wants to fight for that is different from UMNO, except it has a star politician as an advisor.

The cynic in me says it’s matter of time before they disintegrate, then the Malaysian in me wants things to work out for the sake of our future generations.

Whatever it is, Malaysian politics will never be the same again.