Malaysian General Election 2008

If you notice, I have never mentioned politics on this blog. This is because I see politics as being outside my control and thus a waste of time to even talk about. Which is why I would rather blog about technical stuff, which is something we can learn and apply.

But I shall make an exception with this post, as what happened is truly astounding.

In summary, PAS now has Kedah in addition to Kelantan. DAP won Penang, while Perak and Selangor are under coalition opposition control.

What I expected was the status quo, with BN having 2/3 majority in Parliament as usual - perhaps with reduced majorities this time - and 50% chance of getting back Kelantan. It never occured to me that the opposition would ever get any other state.

Only after the next general election will we know whether this represents a real sea change, or whether it is otherwise loyal voters giving a one-off signal of dissatisfaction to BN. In the meantime, political analysts will have a field day figuring out exactly what happened, and why.

Several observations:

First, I have always wondered what would happen if BN were ever to be defeated. They were not, but they did suffer an unthinkable setback. I don’t have internet access at home so I could only follow the mainstream media. I watched the results come in on TV3 from 8.00 p.m. onwards. They did cover the loss of Penang but when it was becoming clear that BN was also losing other states, the pro-government TV stations decided to basically pack up and go home, and air sitcoms and game shows in place of unpalatable election results analysis.

Second, blogging can not only bring you fame and fortune, it can also get you a seat in Parliament!

Third, I haven’t yet seen any in-depth news in the mainstream media regarding the loss of Selangor to PAS, DAP and PKR. Kelantan has always been a special case; BN could easily shrug off the loss of this unique pro-Islam state. Penangites’ unhappiness with the state government had been in the news, so it was expected that BN would take a beating (but not this bad). Perak has several towns with large Chinese populations so DAP’s win of 18 seats is still explainable. But the people of Selangor are wealthy and sophisticated, and the different races are well integrated. PKR’s sweep of about a dozen state assembly seats in Selangor is a huge, hitherto unexplainable shock.

Fourth, there is always a way to spin bad news. BN is saying that this proves elections in Malaysia are free and fair and the opposition has no cause for complaint. Well, they certainly aren’t complaining now.

9 March 2008 | Politics | Comments