by Liew Chin Tong
It has been five long years. No other periods in Malaysian history were more intensely fought than this.
Five years after the March 8 election in 2008, what is clear is that Barisan Nasional is still trying to win the final battle to restore its single-party dominance of 2004 and not to move on with time to set the agenda for the next generation.
March 8 will forever be in the annals of Malaysian history for the positive change it brought to the nation which was previously not imaginable. But we shall be remembering a new date very soon which hopefully sees the change of the federal government.
In essence, the 2008 general election ended Barisan Nasional’s hegemony and, as far as the electoral results are concerned, created an almost 50-50 two-party divide. The lesson: no one should take the people for granted anymore.
Gone were the days when BN was expected to win comfortably, regardless of how dissatisfied the public was. BN’s rule was guaranteed by a heavily gerrymandered electoral system that magnified the weight of the “fixed deposit” voters from among members of UMNO, the civil service, the armed forces and the police, the FELDA settlers, the Chinese new village residents, the estate workers, and Sabahans and Sarawakians.
Malaysians are now mostly urban and highly mobile.
Gone were also the days when the BN government had full control over the mass media which set the agenda for public discourse and decided who were the good guys and bad guys. Now, everyone publishes his or her own newspaper in the form of facebook postings.
For decades, Malaysians, in particular the opposition, have been divided and ruled over by Barisan Nasional which in turn enriched its leaders in the name of helping the poor.
The old Malaysia that BN cherishes is one that there is no rival coalition vying for national leadership. But when the non-Malays cross the psychological barrier to vote for PAS and Malay for the DAP, BN’s days are numbered.
Malaysia has been a nation awaiting for change for the longest possible of time. Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim likes to joke that he has been called “bakal Perdana Menteri” (the next Prime Minister) since the early 1990s.
The tragedy of Malaysia is that a less corrupt government, a more democratic society and a more equitable distribution of resources have consistently been the core themes since at least the 1990s if not earlier. Remember the “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah” slogan of 1981?
As we consign BN into the dustbin of history, all Malaysians who desire a better Malaysia must labour on making the new Malaysia one that guarantees democratic spaces for all – including our political opponents; a Malaysia that benefits the most number of people economically and not the select few; and one that is really transformed for the better and not just tweaked.
Overcoming BN in election should not be an end in itself. Winning the next election is not just to replace BN in government but it is just the beginning of a long journey to repair, reform and rebuild this beloved nation of ours for everyone.
And to be marginally better than BN’s rule should not be the bar we set for the new era. -The Rocket
