A new dawn for Malaysia has arrived and a new chapter in Malaysian history was opened as the National Front suffered a major shock defeat in what was to some, the most nail-biting and nerve-wrecking General Elections to date. Barisan Nasional (BN) triumphed in 7 states while Barisan Alternatif (BA) swept 5 others, namely Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Terengganu Kelantan, and Perak (in no particular order). This was a horrific outcome from BN's point of view; one of the worst losses in history as big names like Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil became casualties to relatively political newcomers.
I am especially happy for Nurul Izzah Anwar since I have been following her progress via the internet for some time. This was big news to me when I clicked on MalaysiaKini.com and the lines "Nurul Izzah set to create upset" appeared onscreen. My jaw dropped when I saw who she was contending with. My jaw dropped further when Selangor was officially announced a non-BN state. Whoa.
MalaysiaKini.com was one of the many websites I visited for minute-by-minute updates, as with many other people residing outside of Malaysia. That probably explained the flooding traffic which caused the long loading times. This happened even after stripping down all graphical content and bandwidth intensive objects from the site!
I too felt the tension some few thousand kilometres away. It was as if I was right there in Malaysia. Never before have I sat in front of my PC hitting F5 on one website for close to four hours screaming and shouting for joy at mere text! (This does not include the times when Arsenal's game is not broadcasted on Sky Sports or ESPN.)
Texts started pouring into my phone inbox from my colleagues in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand as soon as the first few results aired. My Yahoo! Messenger had to be logged off due to false rumours spreading and spamming of election results. One of them said something along the lines of "PAS menang besar! Alhamdulillah, akhirnya bulan sampai juga di Tanah Jelapang Padi! Takbir! Allahuakbar!" I could almost hear him screaming into my ears.
It is time for change now after the defining moment in front of the ballot box is all said and done. Many promises have been made, and many should be kept. We all want a transparent government that can be held accountable by its people and ruled by law. We want a government that recognizes all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion as a nation of one. We shall see how things turn up, for when the next election comes around and my government needs a vote, be sure that I'll be casting mine.
Barisan Nasional (BN) triumphed in 7 states while Barisan Alternatif (BA) swept 5 others, namely Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Terengganu, and Perak (in no particular order)
ReplyDeleteBA tak mng kt trg la lutfi..1 lg tu kt kelantan..
p/s:sblm ini u wrote something else kt blog ni..tiba2 entry dh brtukar..but still utk odd..klau sy jd odd mst terharu..hik2
oh, sorry tersilap. thx for pointing tht out. sudah dibetulkan. diharap tiada sbrg kesulitan berlaku.
ReplyDeleteps: aah, edit entry yg aritu je. rewrite semua balik. so still maintain same entry. hmm, sbb sy pn terharu bace nama sy dlm blog dia.
sm2..:p
ReplyDeleteps..klau mcm tu lps ni sy nk kna mention ur name in my blog,then dpt lh special entry dr awk kn??..
ha3..*joking*
haha. yes thts true. tapi tak semestinya awk mention sy baru sy mention awk. odd kwn baik. awk nk dedication ke?
ReplyDelete;)
owh..tau la sy bkn kwn baek..
ReplyDeletetdk mengapalh..:(
*drama di pg ari but i mean it*
alamak..xley nk delete pulk previous comment tu..owh..sila abaikn yerk lutfi comment itu.
ReplyDeletesy tggu bila sy jd kwn baek awk dulu,then i'll ask u to write smthng utk sy in ur blog.
:)
Great minds think alike, bro.
ReplyDeleteI was going to use your exact title for my own next entry.
Tak leh guna lagi lah camni, dah basi dah.
I have an presentation on the right to freedom of information in Malaysia in a few hours.
Pray I don't falter!
Ps-The win was the easy part. Now comes the hard part - delivering. You know what they say. Politicians are those who shake your hand before elections, and your confidence after. Harap2 this dawn of a new era is indeed just that, and not some freak result. Insya Allah.
bdk trg: Thats not what I meant. What I meant was, Odd is my good friend, plus she wrote about me. Sbb itu saya tulis entry ini. Awak kwn baik sy juga. :)
ReplyDeletelubna: Great minds DO think alike. Ala just use the title, nobody really reads my blog. The parties should start rolling up their sleeves now.
Odd: Just in case you are reading..
yes i'm readinggggggg... lutfi, i hv'nt got the internet yet.. DOWNN la mcm ni! u know wut,i'm at a friend's house ni n terus bukak ur blog sbb rase mcm dh laaaamaaaaaaaaa sgt... btw, i'm loving the results too.. ;)
ReplyDeletethe results mean change. and when there's change, it can only go two ways. better or worse. lets pray its for the better.
ReplyDeleteyou know, before this entry i posted up a previous entry tht was much shorter. then i thought to myself, "no way, i have to write longer!"
hence the edit.
yea, write longer n add personal story in your blog like u used to. How u feel abt what's happening in the country for instance,how things affects u, what's happening in ur life etc.(remember ur fs' blog?warung cofee apetah)..bcoz i think personal story makes the reader feel closer to the writer.n y is this important? bcoz our family n friends live so far away from us. n one of the way we can keep in touch is by reading what's happening in their lives.
ReplyDelete..but it's ur blog nway, knape i sibuk ni?hahaha
sometimes, i need other people to tell me things i already know.
ReplyDeletethx odd.