Wind of change in Malaysia…
Stayed up till 2.30AM on 9th March 2008 to follow closely the progress of the ballot counting for the Malaysian 2008 Election. Well, the news is Barisan Nasional stills controls the Government seats with only a "simple majority" win. The ruling coalition party had failed to retain their famous "2/3 majority". This I expect it to be, to a lot of urban and younger generation Malaysians, good news and a fresh change.
The underdogs, aka DAP, PKR and PAS, had managed to wrestle a total 5 states from BN’s control. Those states are Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. I believe, I was pretty surprised that Kedah, Perak and Selangor too fell to the Barisan Alternatif (coalition of Oppositions).
The other surprises that I saw were the lost for Datuk Shahrizhat and Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. Non surprises were the lost for MIC top guns (including Datuk Seri Samy Vellu) and PPP President.
In my opinion, the people’s voices rang out LOUD this time round. Barisan Nasional is now fully ‘awake’ and could probably still be reeling from the shock. Hopefully, they will learn from past ‘mistake’ and improve.
On the other hand, let’s also hope that Barisan Alternatif is able to deliver what they promised and to make a better change for all Malaysians.
