The day my faith in M'sia was restored

The day my faith in M'sia was restored

Tang Ching Leng | Mar 11, 08 5:40pm

I woke up today to a glorious morning. A perfect storm has swept, leaving not destruction in its wake, but an upheaval in the political structure and a fresh beginning throughout the peninsula. Malaysians today can proudly proclaim that their thunderous message can be heard throughout the entire country. No more political hegemony. No more race-based politics. The opposition coalition, led by the multi-racial Party Keadilan Rakyat, has delivered a huge blow to the seemingly invincible two-thirds parliamentary majority that has been held by the ruling party for so long. BN has only itself to blame. This time, its substantial loss of seats is not due to one particular race switching to the opposition camp. Malays, Chinese and the Indians have indicated that PKR, DAP and PAS is a viable alternative coalition. How did the BN, from a formidable 90% majority in the 2004 elections, could have stumped to substantial loss in a matter of four years, a huge pendulum swing? Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has to shoulder the responsibility as the BN leader that has led the coalition to its first two-thirds majority loss in its entire history. He won a huge mandate in the 2004 elections, by promising to be a prime minister to all Malaysians, by promising to act on corruption and reduce excess spending, by promising to improve the civil service. But he failed to deliver - crime became more rampant; there was no open tender of projects; virtually no convictions for cases of corruption. He said he is a PM to all Malaysians, yet engage in a scare tactic to spook Chinese and Indians into voting for MCA and MIC, otherwise, their voice will be lost in the cabinet, and hence, excluded from decision-making that will affect their livelihoods. Malaysians did give Abdullah more time to fulfil his promises. We still elected BN into government in this 2008 elections. However, this time, we are telling the BN party, we want to see results this time. No more empty rhetoric. No more arrogance that we should be told what is best for us. Whether we are Malays, Indians or Chinese, we want to see transparency; tolerance and respect in the way Malaysia is governed. This is a healthy development for Malaysian politics. March 9, 2008 is a day I will remember forever. It is the day my faith in Malaysia is restored. It is the day where I smiled even though I haven’t slept for 22 hours, knowing my daughters can look forward to a brighter future in Malaysia. It is the day, where we, the Malaysian rakyat, finally did something which the ruling party BN has preach but never practice religiously, that it is just possible, for the Malays, Chinese and Indians, to find a common voice in order to achieve a common good that transcends race and religion. This is not so much a defeat for the ruling BN, or a win for the opposition. It is a victory for Malaysian politics – for all Malaysians. It is a glorious day. P.S I’m from Muar and am proud to be from a town where we delivered the first and only parliament seat in Johor to the opposition.