What Tsunami? It was a political awakening
Umno is up its tricks to ensure that future generations remain firmly in its grasp by keeping them intellectually challenged and incapable of thinking
The DAP would not have won in many of its 38 seats had it not been for the support that it had from the Indians and the Malays as well. Many of the educated and the open minded Malays from the working class voted for the DAP but did not shout about it to their kampung kin. The figures would not have crossed the winning mark had it not been for the large number of Malaysians who returned home just to vote.
by P Dev Anand Pillai, FMT
I had always participated in the workings of general elections since the time I was a staff in the Suruhanjaya PilihanRaya Selangor in the early 90s. Being a Polling and Counting Agent (PACA) in 1999 and 2004 general elections gave me the insight as to how it all worked at the end of the day. But this time, it was different, what I witnessed was a coming together of the whole country with a motive to change the federal government for the first time in history, friends from overseas whom had almost given up on their country of birth had made time to return to try to make the change happen. It would have, had it not been for massive fraud by the custodians of the elections themselves, the Election Commission, who were in cahoots with the police.
We had prepared ourselves after being alerted that there could be a high number of foreign voters trying their luck at our voting centres and true enough they came in buses, vans, jeeps and even police vans with police protection to vote in our elections. Most of these workers had dubious looking NRICs, some with very pale looking old versions of our identity card and they seemed so confident of knowing what to do. Some even had their “saluran” numbers ready at hand with them as they alighted from their vehicles. The police and the Election Commission officials welcomed them as though they were old friends knowing very well that this regime can only be saved by foreigners who will one day rule this country through the loophole in the constitution which will allow them to be Malays constitutionally. It is indeed a sad state of events for us the citizens of this beloved land of ours.
DAP’s victorious outing
The Democratic Action Party had sowed the fruits of labour which they had been diligently working on for the past five years since 2008. The Ubah and Ini Kalilah theme caught on with the people of both East and West Malaysia and made the people ready to see for the first time in 56 years a change of government at the Federal level and a change which many in their heart of hearts thought will bring about a more just and fairer Malaysia. Winning 38 parliamentary seats was indeed a record for the DAP which brings about the question of why was this called a “Chinese Tsunami” and why did the regime allow the Utusan Melayu headlines to read” Apa lagi Cina Mahu?”
It was more of a Urban political awakening by the masses who were exposed to the other side of the coin and whom had given up on the one sided state propaganda that the pay TV stations portray of the ruling BN regime. The DAP would not have won in many of its 38 seats had it not been for the support that it had from the Indians and the Malays as well. Many of the educated and the open minded Malays from the working class voted for the DAP but did not shout about it to their kampung kin. The figures would not have crossed the winning mark had it not been for the large number of Malaysians who returned home just to vote. Some of them were coming back to their old housing estates after nearly 20 years to just vote. There were a vast number of Malays who attended ceramahs by the DAP and were well aware of the facts when it came to the state of the national debt, the level of money siphoning from federal projects by cronies, the state of corruption and simply a show of arrogance and lavishness by the ruling elite. These were not lies and fairy tales it was there for all to see in the social media.
The Chinese had for decades hoped that they could level the playing field but had to always content with an openly biased system which appoints referees (civil servants at management level or also known as little napoleans) whom are always partial and openly biased towards the Malays. But then when they saw for the first time in 2008, the joined effort of the three main opposition parties of DAP, PAS and PKR which caused a huge dent on the armour of the BN, they realised that there is a new dawn if a two coalition system is firmly entrenched in our system. They witnessed how Lim Guan Eng turned a lacklustre performing economy in Penang to one that was worthy of praise by the many international bodies and institutions whom are watchdogs of economies. With a prudent way of management and a open tender system, the people found that the delivery system and the effective leadership of the Chief Executive of the State was admirable and most of all, he does not keep quite when Umno tries to bully him.
Candidate choice by the DAP
Though it still has the tag that it is a Chinese chauvinistic party, but in reality in many areas where the constituents were mostly Chinese, non-Chinese candidates were accepted and fared well for eg in constituencies like Klang, Kota Alam Shah, Raub, Labis, Ipoh Barat, Batu Gajah and Cameron Highlands, the people voted because of their believe in the party, hope that the PR coalition brought and a chance at unseating the federal government. Most of all, the people have now become very conscious about who the candidate is and what is the candidate’s ability. Therefore a lot of effort must be put in to nurture the next generation in the respective constituencies that have been won. Care must be taken not to just appoint political secretaries and assistants but people of ability who have the positive draw of the people. If a candidate is to be parachuted in, then the parachuting must take place earlier and the candidate must be able to adjust themselves to the people and their aspirations.
PKR’s good showing
PKR is slowly but surely becoming a party that is being accepted by the masses and this is where new talent can be nurtured. New parliamentarians like N Surendran and G Manivanan, who will never be accepted in parties like the MIC have proven that in a multi-racial party like the PKR, if the right strategy is used and the right approach of reaching the people with issues of national concern, a difference can be made. If not for the rampant, open and blatant cheating that took place, there would have been more seats to PKR’s tally of 30. The people are ready and have already accepted a two party coalition and have given their trust to PR to administer states after seeing what the PR is capable of and the people, whilst being receptive to the governance of the PR, have also shown that they can boot out a PR government like what we saw in Kedah, signs of which we already being seen when a weak Chief Executive was appointed.
As the revered leader of the Malays had said, only the smart, highly educated Malays will vote for the DAP, which means that Umno accepts and acknowledges that its main voter and support base are made of the uneducated and the ill-informed masses who flock to the Sheppard when monetary handouts are given. It can be safely said that despite a vast number of Malays seen lining up to collect the BR1M handouts, not much turned into votes. It goes to show that the people have matured and this group is definitely not what Umno would like to see. The more educated the people get, the more Umno has to be worried. Thus by making the education system very inept to deal with current global demands, Umno is making sure that the future generations remain firmly in its grasp by keeping them intellectually challenged and incapable of thinking. But a vast number of Malays have seen how this destroys the younger generation and have learnt to reject this handout culture and are beginning to brave it out on their own, knowing that handouts keeps them eternally enslaved to Umno.
