DEC 27 — The average Malaysian is not given to dramatics, being content with three meals a day and living peaceably with others.
On March 8 this year, however, during Malaysia's 12th general election, he put an opposition coalition crammed with greenhorn candidates 31 seats away from forming the government. He also gave it five of Malaysia's 13 states, including main cash cows Selangor, Penang and Perak.
In 1999, most Malays swung away from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition after it arrested deputy premier Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for corruption and sodomy. This year, BN lost the support of most Chinese and Indians who were fed up with its patronage politics and abuses of power.
BN lost 46 per cent of the popular vote, with 51 per cent of voters in Peninsular Malaysia backing the opposition coalition made up of the very-Muslim Pas, the very-Chinese DAP and the multi-racial Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
In sum, BN got 63 per cent of the ballot, its worst showing since Malaysia gained independence in 1957. The result was even worse than the one BN managed during a strife-torn period in May 1969, when it got at least 66 per cent.
So, March 8 turned assumptions about Malaysians on the head.
Those who were sure Malays would not support the DAP and PKR saw the very-Malay strongholds of Bakri in Johor, Segambut in Kuala Lumpur and Teluk Intan in Perak fall easily to the two parties.
Those who were sure non-Malays would not support Pas heard them chant: “We want to eat Panadol!” Panadol refers to the white moon on Pas' party flag. Non-Malays now see no-nonsense Pas as preferable to a government whose policemen were sorely stretched by a spike in killings, whose Islamic zealots persecuted even non-Muslims and whose education minister kept waving a keris at the Chinese.
But was March 8 a political deluge for the better?
Not quite. At best, it was a warning to BN to serve the people pronto, although little will change unless patronage-bloated Umno changes. At worst, it was just an “anything goes” knee-jerk.
Meanwhile, the opposition coalition may soon fall apart over Pas' insisting that hudud (Islamic criminal law, which includes hand-severing penalties) be enforced should the opposition seize power.
March 8 was a small, but satisfying win, for the average Malaysian, who showed himself to be more mature than his political masters.
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