I wonder if those in the corridors of power truly understand the message the rakyat sent them last Saturday. You see, arrogance among the ruling elites has no bounds. Examples are too many to list but a few among them are:

• The Melaka chief minister and an Umno vice-president once stated that Umno does not need the Indians or the Chinese to govern;

And Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that he was staying on because he still had the support of BN leaders. I am speechless. The undivided support expressed by the BN leaders to him has lulled him back to his previous level of incompetence and we, Malaysians, are none the better from what we had before. All this because they never learn.

Their attitude and mentality are blinding them to reality. They consider themselves above the ordinary laws governing the masses. They believe in the reporting of their own mainstream media outlets. The simplest rule in any book on organisational behavior is (or should be) that employees just love clueless bosses. The more catatonic the boss is, the better it is for employees, who are then free to say and do anything, like a barrel full of monkeys.

It is a crying shame that with today's Umno, only the old are leading the charge for change. This should normally be within the province of youth. This reflects how far Umno has degenerated as an organisation.

A vote for change and punishment for the Barisan Nasional is now seen by observers as the return of Anwar Ibrahim to Malaysian politics. Written as ‘obsolete’ and ‘outdated’ or ‘unwanted’ by Malaysians, Anwar has now proven that he is a formidable opponent to the government and represents the new era for Malaysia.

Besides Anwar's victory, the vote shows a rejection of the 'Islam Hadhari' concept promoted by Abdullah's government with PAS winning more states and more parliamentary seats. It is also a big victory for the DAP which now controls Penang defeating Gerakan. The results are shockingly gruesome for BN and a slap in the face for the leaders. It proves that Anwar Ibrahim is armed with great strategies and will continue to be a challenger to Umno.

Anwar is right to state that the new DAP-PKR-PAS coalition is a ‘government in waiting’ and any wrong move that is seen as ‘punishing’ or ‘regressive’ by the BN-controlled federal government would only lead to more losses by the BN in the next election.

Now that the electorate has given the mandate to the opposition parties to govern their states, the people can help to make these new governments a success by giving them whole-hearted support and constructive criticisms where they are due. We must not forget that Malaysia has been badly managed for a long time, and it is only through maximum cooperation from the public, that the arduous task of reforming an old and impaired system can be speedily accomplished.

We Malaysians really should be happy at what our collective consciousness has brought forth in terms of the election results. Perhaps never again can the ruling party get complacent and feel that they can do anything they choose to the rakyat . However, the point in history we're on isn't the end of the struggle but the beginning.

Right now, we have a chance to see if the opposition whom we have entrusted to carry out the duty of governance will follow through or will become another Pak Lah type story. The people have indeed spoken.