euphoria.
i am still reeling from last night’s adrenalin rush. the scene was at Bangsar Sports Complex, deep in the middle of upper class Bangsar. Anwar Ibrahim’s presence ensured that the Lembah Pantai polling centre was packed to the rafters. imagine the earth-shaking roar and the ensuing frenzy, when it was announced that first-time contestant Nurul Izzah Anwar has defeated incumbent Shahrizat Jalil, a veteran Cabinet Minister. it was almost unbelievable. everyone was high, and shouting at the top of their lungs. Bangsar has never been associated with ‘quiet’, but last night it was at its loudest. Nurul Izzah was in tears, but only for a short while. celebration was picking up. and as it will eventually turn out, it was a hell of a night for Malaysia.
despite even having corporate bigwigs such as CIMB’s Nazir Razak and AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes (of course, both are cronies with interest) campaigning for her, Shahrizat’s defeat in Lembah Pantai was just one of the many high-profile losses suffered by BN. Based on last night’s results, it was apparent that BN was voted out by middle & upper class Malaysians in urban areas. it was obvious that only ‘orang kampung’ who read Utusan & Berita Harian, and watched RTM & TV3, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, who were still rather ‘blind’ to the insurgence of awareness of their peers in the urban areas. and i don’t blame them, as they have limited avenues and decades-long skepticism to boot. hopefully they could be reached better in the next election, for their own good.
but apart from that, i think the message from rakyat was HUGE. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia, and Selangor is the most industrialized state in the country. these areas are home to middle & upper class Malaysians, most of them are successful professionals and a highly-educated bunch. these modern, knowledgeable and well-informed urbanites hated it when their intelligence is insulted. you can fool those ‘orang kampung’ with your threats and lame rhetorics, but not us. we are even more qualified than some of your ‘kaki bodek’ MPs who only have SPM (and some don’t even finish school!), so who are you kidding? and the urban voters have spoken, louder than ever, and as important as ever. KL, the urban capital, was almost a sweep, and some places were won by staggering majority (Teresa Kok won in Seputeh by 36,000++ votes!!), not to mention the high-impact wins in Lembah Pantai and Titiwangsa (Dr Lo’ Lo’). only Zulhasnan Rafique (Setiawangsa) survived for BN in KL’s 11 parliamentary seats. in Selangor, BN only won in the more rural areas such as Sabak, Tanjong Karang and Sungai Besar, but closer to KL, even Shah Alam has been won by PAS. BN were almost cleansed out of highly urbanized areas on the outskirts of KL such as Petaling Jaya, Ampang, Subang, Damansara, Gombak, Pandan, Kinrara, Kelana Jaya, Puchong and Bangi. even the youngest contestant, 26-year-old first-time candidate Nik Nazmi (or Budu), who is a year my senior at MCKK, won at Seri Setia. after KL and Selangor, one would imagine the next highly-developed state in Malaysia is Penang, and you already know what happened there. even in the states won by BN, the more urbanized state-capital seats such as Seremban (Negeri Sembilan), Kuantan (Pahang), Kota Melaka (Melaka) and even Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Kuching (Sarawak), were won by the Opposition. what does this tell you?
the BN-controlled media were shrewd not to highlight this. but the fact is… the more highly-educated, more intelligent, more informed, middle class, upper middle class and upper class Malaysian citizens living in urban areas with access to the best facilities and infrastructures, are voting BN out of the government in one voice. and that, is a HUGE, HUGE statement, in any way you want to look at it. when the better minds, the better-informed group of people in the country is voting you out unanimously, you have to take notice. BN is now hanging largely on the support of those ‘orang kampung’ who relied heavily on the ‘polluted’ mainstream media. the urbanites have spoken, bigtime, and showed their credentials in style. they can’t be fooled, they see credibility as it is. even with the blanket on all mainstream media, the urbanites can’t be swayed. for that, i am proud. i am damn proud of us. i am so damn proud of us for stamping this statement so boldly. BN should realize that we are not as stupid as they thought. and the rakyat in rural areas, hopefully they can see this statement as something to think about. when their peers in the cities were all united in voting BN out, maybe there’s actually something that they missed out on. maybe all those propaganda in the mainstream media were just that, a propaganda. because in all fairness, their peers in the cities might be in a better position to know something that didn’t reach them.
this time, it will be different from 1998. in 1998, the Opposition’s big win was the climax, and the momentum slowed down after that, resulting in the lopsided GE 2004. this time, Anwar will be in Parliament, which probably has sent shivers down in the BN camp. in Malaysia, only a handful of people could even stand comparison with Anwar Ibrahim, let alone even thinking of trying to debate him in Parliament. the platform is now here, and a lot of work needs to be done. first of all, the Opposition must unite. and then, they must ensure that they deliver in the areas that they won, to build on reputation and credibility. this huge win should not be the climax, the momentum must be maintained. and with Anwar back in the fray, this is optimistically possible. and if this momentum could be maintained, enhanced and built-on, 4 years from now, General Election 2012 will be an even closer fight. if Barisan Rakyat can unite, maintain, enhance and build on its reputation and credibility, and gain more trust in the coming 4 years, the corrupt and ‘unsaveable’ BN could finally be voted out, for good.
it was plain to see, that after Tun Dr Mahathir, there was no one more qualified than Anwar Ibrahim to lead this country. he was destined to lead us into the new century, to take us to the next level. Mahathir has denied us from that, in his own selfishness. but if everything goes as planned, God-willing, we just might arrive at that, in 4 years’ time.
so see you then, in the midst of it all, again.
I AM PROUD TO BE MALAYSIAN.
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), that the use of indelible ink was just a gimmick by the EC in the first place, and was a certain non-starter after all. there was no any real move to amend the Election Laws to allow the usage of the ink, and it was known beforehand that there was actually not enough supply (or too short a notice?) to cater for the upcoming election. in other words, the indelible ink gimmick was just a plain, stone-dead, straight-to-your-face LIE to the rakyat. just as desperate and treacherous as the sudden passing of the bill for the sole purpose of extending the EC chairman’s tenure (what’s his name.. abd rahman abd rashid or abd rashid abd rahman?), it will be no surprise if the election is even called off tomorrow, judging by the way the EC is being manipulated and bitch-slapped as per request.