Dawn of Malaysia's Rainbow Nation: The Mandate to Rule is Shaken

Malaysians have woken up! Politically, socially and intellectually thanks to Facebook, You Tube, blogs and alternative media. The movement for real change, which started in GE12, has gained tremendous speed in GE13. And the massive, peaceful, multi-ethnic rally in Stadium Kelana Jaya on 8th May is a testament to the new Malaysia, the rainbow nation that will shine after 56 years of political darkness and a troubled history despite relative economic health.

Some commentators on the web and print media have missed the whole point: we are not saying the Opposition will take over the government or whether the elections results can be verified and fraud detected. Those issues will arise and be resolved in due course.

No. The real change is that the urban people of Malaysia, from all races, starting with Selangor and then to other major states, are saying to the incumbent government: YOU HAVE LOST THE PEOPLE's MANDATE TO LEAD AND TO GOVERN!

Al Jazeera’s reporter is right in saying that it is a moral victory. Not just for the Opposition (even they themselves are surprised by their relative success in the cities) but most importantly for the people. (Political analyst Dr Bridget Welsh's article "Silver Linings in a GE13 Without Gold" best captures the heart of the nation at present although I am sure there will be more profound analyses as history unfolds before our eyes.)

The issues that have caused this swing in urban public support against the government under BN have been percolating for five decades. And MALAYSIA'S TIME FOR CHANGE HAS COME. This was prophesied by many before GE13.

Yes, we shall see a peaceful tsunami of changes ...whether it means reform of BN into an integrated non-racial party, or PR taking over by hook or crook (hopefully the former). The final outcome is a clean and just government that is fair to all races, classes, gender and age groups.

Ron Paul: "Any idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government."

Fallacies over the "Chinese Tsunami" debate 

There have been several debates and much outrage over the PM's Chinese tsunami remarks.  In my view, the analysis of voting trends based on racial lines is interesting but not exactly truthful: the demand for democracy, clean governance and economic freedom is a justified global demand that any race, be it Chinese, Singaporean, Thai or Spanish would cherish and aspire for. The fact that the Chinese happened to be in the majority living in urban areas does not indicate much except that the Chinese and other non-bumi races also happened to bear the brunt of discriminative policies enacted by BN's policies for five decades.

Imagine Steve Jobs (rest his soul), after seeing a surge in sales of iPhone3 in China, saying there is a major Chinese swing in demand for iPhone3. Demand for iPhones or any successful product is global and nothing to do with race. Same thing in Malaysia. 

Demand for fairness, justice and free and fair elections is universal. 

But the good news is change is coming and the people's mandate is shifting out of the government's hands. The pace of change is also out of their hands unless the incumbent government submits to change. It is no longer a question of when but whether they will allow themselves to be reformed internally or externally by a Pakatan Rakyat takeover.

This is what I wrote in response to a well researched but fundamentally flawed article in FreeMalaysia website:

 

"While your mathematical analysis makes sense, it is still not demographically realistic because the key issue that swung the elections at the state district level is not race but the urban-rural divide.

A high proportion of Chinese happened to reside in the urban states while the rural states happened to be populated by Malays.

The momentum is building among the urban voters, and this cuts across racial lines, to vote on issues that affect the governance of the country, the economy and the need to stamp out corruption at the highest level.

If we continue to call GE13 a Chinese tsunami, it is going back to the old school of analyzing Malaysians along racial lines.

Change your perspectives, then you will change the country for the better. Racial dominance is a tool that has no edge anymore in today's globalised, connected economy."

Postscript: In the past week, I have read, heard and seen so many moving stories/videos of people taking part in their democratic rights to vote and demand for free and fair elections. This one - I Am Malaysia - written by Jun Watanabe for The Malaysian Insider is especially poignant.