teratai layu di tasik madu

It is understandable if the Barisan Nasional fails to recapture Kelantan.
But it is totally unacceptable that the ruling coalition can actually lost Kedah, Penang, Perak & Selangor – 4 booming, industrialized and economy-generating states.
These were stunning results that no one, not even the Opposition; had expected or imagined.
This election also saw the fall of some of the biggest personalities on the Malaysian political landscape: MIC President Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon (GERAKAN lost its crown jewel, the state that it had rule for 39 years), Datuk M. Kayveas, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Seri Sharizat Jalil.
A political tsunami with few survivors :)

Now I am disgusted when I read in the papers that there are certain quarters in UMNO; is putting the blame that the swing of votes come from the non-bumiputra communities. Hello, don’t be so ignorant. Use some common sense. The non-bumiputra only consists of 30% of the population. Even if it holds 40%, the communities still doesn’t have that much voting power. Please acknowledge that your own Kaum Melayu is also against your party. Your own people are going against you. They too voted for the Opposition. They snubbed UMNO at the ballot. Simply put, a large number of Malay voters who favored UMNO and its alliances decided otherwise this time around and instead voted for the Opposition. Meaning that the problem is in UMNO.
Ask your own people why did they do so? Do they not care about the Malay rights and privileges which UMNO fought for? Or have they become smarter over the unequal distribution of wealth & privileges within the party.

So what went wrong?

It is apparent that the BN leaders have misread the mood of the people.
After ruling for half a century, it believed in its invincibility and refused to acknowledge that the rakyat were angry with some of its policies, decisions and actions such as wielding of the Keris and comments uttered during the UMNO general assembly & in Parliament. Pure arrogance. They thought that the street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur were nothing more than the occasional show of defiance and dissatisfaction over simple bread-and-butter issues. Come on, the rakyat are more intelligent and educated than they were 50 years ago. They are braver to come out & demonstrate, to show that they were really angry and want their grouses to be quickly attended to. Instead, the BN belittled the demonstrations as something initiated by the Opposition. This annoyed the rakyat and when BN leaders said demonstrations are not part of our culture, someone wrote to remind them that “UMNO was born out of demonstrations against the Malayan Union” :)

Rakyat is upset, angry, frustrated… rise in consumer items leads to rising cost of living. We are living in a very rich country. All of our exports are A-grade quality yet somehow we don’t get to enjoy them and have to pay for assessments & tolls. I don’t know how true it is – but someone did mention that the money that this country earned through oil exporting can actually exempt the rakyat from paying tolls and taxes. That shows how truly rich Malaysia is. Where is all the money gone to?!
Irritation with the government’s inability to deal with the increase in crime rate.
Non-Bumis annoyed with the government on their refusal to acknowledge the on-going Islamisation and its insistence to continue with the NEP.
Disappointed with the government on its refusal to deal with complaints of neglecting the minority races.
Mad with the government at the level of corruption and the seeming unwillingness of them to root out the problem but were instead seen as condoning some of the abuses that were becoming widespread.
The HINDRAF issue - the fall of the Indian Chief indicates an unprecedented wave of anger, opening up a new era in politics for the Indian community.

So Pak Lah & Co, it’s time for reflection and re-assessment.
Find out how and why your team squander after winning such a massive mandate in 2004.
And good luck :)