This election Barisan Nasional only won 140 seats. This time around the government should seriously consider giving each MP two research officers. This is because the time for BN clowns in Parliament is over. The opposition elected this time are mostly quality people and in no time, will spin BN MPs on their finger tips. This time around also, MPs better be well prepared to debate with quality arguments.
Ministers who give flimsy replies might not get away with it. So part-time politicians have no more place in Malaysian politics. This time around, only brains will rule the day. Business, whether government or private, must be left to the professionals. No more interference from BN politicians.
The people have spoken. There are, of course, many issues that built up to become the political tsunami which created havoc against Barisan’s coalition members. The hardest hit were communal politics spinners whose hatred against their own brethren in BN must be very great. Finally, Barisan leaders admit they were not listening to the people’s woes but were imposing their own will over them.
Some hard facts finally hit home. The spin doctors running the mainstream media probably spinned just too much. BN-supporting university lecturers called to spin public opinion during campaign period on the mainstream TV channels instead ended up insulting the people’s intelligence. They spoke about every thing except the truth. Their phrases like ‘maybe’, ‘I think’ and ‘probably’ were not convincing at all because the masses had stopped believing them a long time ago. If only BN leaders were smart enough to listen to the pain and suffering of the real people on the streets, truth wouldn’t have hit them this hard.
The people ate and enjoyed all the goodies BN showered on them in taking them to be fools but when the decision-making day came, nothing could change their mind. ‘ Makkal Sakti ’ had decided. enough was enough. The people were willing to take the risk and felt there nothing left to lose.
The decision is done. The Malaysian political landscape can never be the same again. Somehow things have fallen in place. Racial politics is out. The only space left is for non-racial politics. Malaysia for Malaysians. Maybe it’s time political parties regroup themselves and form truly multiracial parties. MCA should merge with Gerakan and PPP. DAP should merge with PKR. Then the next step would be a two party system of governance
Finally, leaders’ extravagance is out. Leaders’ arrogance is out. Religious intolerance is out, judicial compromise is out. The police’s brutality is out. The police state is definitely out. Nepotism is out. Corrupted politicians are definitely out. Huge wastages in government projects and spending is out. If the wastages really stop, Malaysian GDP would be doubled within 24 hours. But the BN government just had to keep on making too many unforgivable mistakes. So the people, with this election, have spoken. ‘Enough is enough, don’t fool us anymore’.
Looking back, the biggest mistake Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made made was to retain S Samy Vellu and Lim Keng Yaik for far too long. Hishamuddin Hussein thought he could scare people with his keris and get away with it. Khairy thought he could bad mouth and unnecessarily challenge people and get away with it too. Well, they didn’t get away with it. In fact, they brought down the BN.
Gerakan made their mistake by ditching the multiracial make-up of their candidates list, PPP proved irrelevant to present-day politics and MCA didn’t defend its members who were shortchanged by others. But the biggest mistake of all was by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who slept through all the major happenings and took too much time to decide on issues very dear to people’s heart until it became cancerous.
He thought he was very strong controlling 92% of parliament. He, too, began believing his spin doctors and all the make-believe stories they printed. The most foolish mistake was to underestimate the people.
If he doesn’t change, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be taking BN and all the corridors he created straight to the pits where it will break into million pieces. Nothing can save them anymore. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi may be remembered as the Father of BN’s Doom.
