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THE PEOPLE DELIVERED A TSUNAMI

by Ong Kok Bin

The 12th Malaysian Election turned out to be a shocker of seismic proportions. The results were beyond anyone's expectation and imagination. Nobody, from the No. 1 in the country to the most ordinary of citizens to the die-hard anti-establishments had expected such results or even dared to imagine them. The gains by the opposition were totally unprecedented, quite out of the ordinary.

I had mentioned in a previous short-take that the campaigning in the elections was 'rather 'ho-hum' and staid' and 'bereft of any gripping issues or enthralling intrigues'. The results that came out on the night of March 8 proved me ever so wrong. The media, from the newspapers to the television networks, had given the status quo pro-establishment reports and advertisements. Yet, on looking back and with hindsight, there were hints of something amiss - indications of voter discontent, lukewarmness towards some of the ruling coalition's candidates or ceramahs and overwhelming enthusiastic response to the opposition's rallies and speeches. But all these had happened before and the Barisan had won ever so comfortably. What changed this time?

Various causes have been proffered for the turn in the election results: a new set of young voters disenchanted with the establishment, price increases, perceived rise in corruption, arrogance and lording over on the part of some of the ruling coalition politicians, high-handedness and overzealous actions from civil administrators and local councils, neglect of those on the margins and loss of confidence in the judicial system. There could be others, like, communal politics. But all these add up to tip the scale in persuading so many voters to risk their known security and economic well-being for the unknown and the untested hands of the opposition.

The 12th Malaysian Election is a talking point. But whether it proves to be just a blip in the radar screen or a watershed that will change the landscape of Malaysian politics remains to be seen. Will the politics of the country that is so characterized by communal interests (and over shaded with religion) and so dominated by one Barisan be replaced by multi- and cross-partisan interests, and two (or even three) nonracial but viable Barisans each competing on level grounds for the right to govern the country and the states?

A politics that is able to transcend race and religion is a higher politics. But race and religion are two such engines of strong emotive powers, that no country, no matter how democratic and progressive (look at the U.S.), is able to escape them.

Still we are looking for utopia where there is 'justice and righteousness on earth' (see Jeremiah 9:24).

Short-Takes
1. Conspiratorial Misrule
2. Redeeming the Time
3. It's an Oily Business
4. Lifting Holy Hands in Prayer
5. A Gracious People
6. Words, Words and Words
7. I Know Whom I Have Believed
8. Of Oddballs and Heroic Fights
9. The People Delivered a Tsunami
10. Joy in Troubled Times

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