Winds of change indeed... what next now?

After all has been said and done, the winds of change did happen indeed. and it was not only a wind, it was a typhoon. The political landscape in Malaysia will be witnessing major structural changes and the growing force of the opposition cannot be dismissed. The onus is now on the opposition who controls 5 states (3 major ones i.e. Penang, Perak and Selangor) to prove that they can walk the talk.

Back in 2004, the electorate gave PM Abdullah's government an unprecedented 92% of total votes casted. That was more than a landslide by any yardstick. It threatened to pummel the oppositions into oblivion, and history to remember them as once having a presence in Malaysia.

But what a (rather expected but still surprising) turnaround! Malaysia is a young country, where voters are generally satisfied with the growth achieved for the past 50 years, and people attributed the achievement to the incumbent coalition government. Status quo has remained the same despite a few attempts by the opposition to galvanize the voters to make the change. In the year 1995, there were huge crowds at opposition-held rallies, but that failed to translate into real votes. In fact, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) almost got a complete wipe-out led by their leader Mr Lim Kit Siang. The strongest challenge in recent times happened in the year 1999, when the popular and charismatic , then deputy PM Mr Anwar Ibrahim, was sacked and jailed rather abruptly. It was Dr Mahathir's final election as the PM, and he got through amidst a significant reduction in majorities of votes casted.

What has happened now? Never before has the opposition controlled states like Perak and Selangor. Penang was once under the then opposition Gerakan founded by Dr Lim Chong Eu, but it later joined the BN coalition. Suddenly, not only constituencies, but states are beginning to fall like nine-pins to the opposition's lose coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS. Where and how did the voters find the courage to sacrifice the period of stability and status quo to bring in the new voices, would need serious post-election analysis. This year will go down as one which is very significant for the political landscape in Malaysia. If the opposition controlled states would see important changes from the past government and bring the desired justice and eliminate corruption, we might see the opposition even taking over the federal level government as well! We would then see a country with 2 major parties, National Front and People's Front Party. But only if the opposition do not each pursue their own agenda, and are willing to be tolerant and work towards a common ideology.

Some interesting post election changes has already been seen. In the state of Perak, where the majority of seats are won by DAP, the opposition has surprisingly got together quickly and elected a chief minister from the Islamic PAS party. It is indeed a great chance for PAS to prove that they are no longer the conservative, extremist party, but one which is tolerant and can bring benefits to other races. Personally, I am sceptical. Perhaps the people had enough of what they perceive as a lack of fairness and justice in Malaysia. It is a strong rebuke to the Government coalition.

What will the federal government do now? Will PM Abdullah, who is seen as weak, make way for his deputy Najib Tun Razak? Or will we see the strong arms tactic that will stifle democracy after this unexpected upset in the elections? Interesting 4 years ahead for Malaysia.