I’d been keenly following up on Malaysia’s 12th general election, even attending 2 opposition ‘ceramahs’ early this week - one by DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and the other by PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim (also Malaysia’s ex-DPM). Yesterday, the nation voted in what I felt was the first REAL general election for Malaysia, and what a spectacular election it was!

I was glued to the tv and Internet until 4:00 am this morning (with an ‘asam pedas’ supper break in-between), accompanied by my dad’s friends, to watch the results as the counting progressed. I was also updated via calls and SMSes, courtesy of an ex-classmate who was covering the news in Kota Bahru, Kelantan at the PAS headquarters. He’s an ex-writer for The Edge and currently part of the team for Malaysia Votes.

The ruling party, Barisan Nasional (BN), suffered the worst defeat in Malaysian history - even worse than in 1969. Apart from losing the 2/3 majority (the opposition won 37%), which allowed them to amend the Constitution as they pleased, they also lost the majority in 5 states - Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Penang and Selangor.

More glaring were the losses by Gerakan head Dr. Koh Tsu Koon (also Penang’s out-going Chief Minister), MIC head Samy Vellu (who has won since the 1970s) and various other top ministers in the government. Even the three hopefuls in Gerakan, who until yesterday thought they would be Penang’s next Chief Minister, lost! And a leadership crisis is brewing at MIC, because in addition to Samy’s loss, all his deputies also suffered defeat.

And to think I used to feel that my one vote wouldn’t make a difference and that we have a one-party system like Singapore’s PAP. :)

The reasons are simple. Malaysians are simply unhappy with the rising cost of living, crime rate, corruption and marginalization of the minority races (we Chinese didn’t like the keris-wielding drama either). Heck, even the Malays are unhappy, as evident by the losses in the northern states, because the country’s growth did not reach the majority but stopped at their cronies. As Raja Petra aptly put it, “the rakyat is left with crumbs while the the ministers feast on caviar” (something like that).

Perhaps his alternative MalaysiaKini (mirror site) and SMSes on voting day helped exacerbate the issues. Perhaps the opposition ceramahs struck a chord with the rakyat and swung fence voters to their favour. Whatever the case, we Malaysians had expected a worse performance for the ruling coalition than 2004’s landslide victory, but nobody expected it would be this bad.

I know two people who will be very happy - Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng (Kit Siang’s son). Anwar’s wife is likely to give up her Parliamentary seat to him in a by-election next month while Guan Eng will be Penang’s new Chief Minister. PM Abdullah Badawi would be the saddest and may step down after the embarrassing defeat, which would make Mahathir’s wishes for him to be a one-term PM come true. The BN will still be the ruling government by virtue of winning a simple majority, although it will have significantly less powers from today.

Badawi has yet to make his official speech and face the press but a nationwide ban was issued this morning against street celebrations to avoid a repeat of the racial clashes on May 13th 1969. Although, I doubt it will happen this time and for two reasons - 1) the Malays are with the Chinese this time and 2) the bigger majority of Malaysians are now middle-class people.

Can the opposition parties work together with goverment? Will they deliver as promised and not be influenced by money and power? How will foreign investors deal with this new political landscape? So many questions and so few answers. The days ahead are excitingly scary but at least it offers hope. What’s certain is that democracy is alive and well in the country and Malaysians of all races have come together and sent the government a tight slap on the face.

Perhaps Anwar’s press statement this morning best sums up the results of this election “…the people have voted decisively for a new era where the government must be truly inclusive and recognises that all Malaysians, regardless of race, culture or race are a nation of one.”

The people have expressed in no uncertain terms that they want accountability, transparency, and the rule of law.�