As with most things #GE13 related, this too was originally posted on Facebook.
Dearest Friends,
Too much expression of despair!
Yes fraud and irregularities of the most vulgar kinds were rife and investigations have to be carried out thoroughly and with transparency but it was overall still a good result.
Dear Malaysia and Malaysians ~ for a nation shaped by nuance it’s amazing how we can never read nuance when it confronts us.
It’s what 23 years of crude Mahathirism does to the sensibility.
The opposition for all it’s commitment still remains fractious, but the rise in popular vote for the them was huge.
For the ruling BN it was the most disastrous showing in it’s history.
Talk of a “Chinese Tsunami” has set the tone for this administration so we know what kind of politics we can look forward to over the next few years.
The one decent, far thinking BN candidate I know, Saifuddin Abdullah, very sadly lost.
And, on a personal front I will never forget that pointless Independent candidate who robbed votes from what would have been a fine example of a parliamentarian, Khalid Jaafar.
The vote, meanwhile, demonstrated a clear urban-rural divide but even in ‘rural’ areas the votes for the BN candidates plummeted considerably.
The Opposition, fractious as it was (and as a result my dear friend Dr. Nasir Hashim lost votes to a PAS candidate who wasn’t meant to stand in the first place and so lost overall), gained 51% of the popular vote. But it takes proportional representation to reflect that, which is a battle for another day.
Am proud, however, that my cynicism DID NOT pay off this time and that my fellow citizens had enough resolve to alter the mantra of ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ to ‘It’s the rot, stupid.’
But as always, the politicians with their ceaseless crotch gazing will take forever (if ever) to see that.
I always liked this clarion call for it’s broad rather than political appeal, so ‘Lawan tetap Lawan!’
Salute!
Eddin Khoo is a poet, writer, translator, independent art curator and founder of cultural centre Pusaka which hopes to preserve Malay traditional arts.
Posted on 6 May 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
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