It Finally Happened

Just when I thought I would never see a change in the Malaysian political landscape in my lifetime, it finally happened.

What a sweet moment it was.

Ever since I became politically aware during my teenage years in the 80's, I sensed something was wrong with the Malaysian system.

One day in 1987 when I went out to buy my daily papers, I was surprised to see that The Star has disappeared from the newstands and the remaining papers mentioned something called "Operation Lalang". I began to read Aliran to find out what was going on.

In 1988, the UMNO crisis and the subsequent Salleh Abbas case shook my faith in the government.

When 1990 came around, I was hoping Razaleigh would be able to break the 2/3 stranglehold BN had on the parliament, but they missed the opportunity.

In the 90's politics took a backseat as everyone was too busy making money from the economic boom.

In 1999 some quarters were spooked by the prospect of an Islamic state, and the expected change again did not materialise despite Keadilan, etc.

On 8th March 2008, the silent majority of Malaysia finally decided that they had enough.

It was not just the Chinese and Indians. The Malays had a voter swing, too.

My Malay colleague gave me a knowing smile on Friday when she reminded me to be a good citizen on election day. I realised later what she meant when the results came out - she had driven all the way to Kedah with her kids to vote. It was a touching representation of the silent majority who have finally decided to do their part for the good of the country.

To all those who are trying to analyse the loss, especially the folks from BN, I have this message for you. Don't bother looking into what the opposition did or what the BN did wrong or did not do, tactics, local issues, etc.

It's not about you.

It's about us.

We, the silent majority, have finally spoken. Please don't continue to be so self-centred, and REALLY listen to us for a change.