2008 Election Aftermath

I have to admit that I know nuts about politics, but I do know that traditionally, Malaysia holds elections once every five years.

Perhaps the most famous of the elections are the 1969 election. Three days after the election, Democratic Action Party, or more commonly known as DAP or the "Rockets", paraded through KL, celebrating the first time opposition acquired more than one third of the parliamentary seats in Malaysia.

And the all-time-famous riot broke out.

Back to the present. If elections are held every five years, then why are we having an election in 2008, four years after the last election 2004? In fact, the terms of office will not expire until May 2009.

I soon discover that it was planned such that Anwar Ibrahim will not get a chance to participate in this election. With, erm, to put it nicely, stained past record, he is restricted from joining in the elections until few months later.

On election day, I went to Chinese calligraphy class as usual. Most of the adults there were shamelessly declaring their votes for DAP. I couldn't help but was amazed by the teacher's enthusiasm. He kept making calls, and stopped teaching us at few points just to talk to us about politics. After receiving rumours on the outcome of the elections, which included the defeat of many key MCA figures of Selangor and Penang, he immediately contacted few of his students to confirm the truth of the rumours.

They way he was acting, well, it's like he's the president of a party or something.

Back home, I was greeted by a bit of a surprise.

Dad actually ordered mum to bring out the television set from my room (where mum safe-kept it to prevent my sister from watching) and my mum actually agreed. That wasn't the bad part.

Both of my parents chased after the results until well past midnight. Dad, who usually goes to bed no later than 11.30, stayed up until almost 2am, despite having to wake up early the next morning.

But that's still not the worst.

8th March 2008 will be remembered as the day I spoke the most to dad.

Well, dad doesn't talk much, and, you know, like father, like son, I'm just not the talking type. But that night was really different. Both of us exchanged views and rumours, and I don't remember catching dad's eye contact so frequently within 2 hours.

The truth is, this is the most explosive election ever. Out of the 222 parliamentary seats contested, Barisan Nasional (National Front, Malaysia's ruling coalition) failed to get two thirds of the seats, which means they lost the power to make amendments to the constitution. This is the second time (the first being 1969) this happen in Malaysia.

And this is worse than the last. Five states were lost to the hands of oppositions, namely Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kelantan, and Kedah. Even Kuala Lumpur lost 10 of its 11 seats to oppositions.

The final results - oppositions 82, BN 140. MCA only obtained 15 seats, compared to DAP's 28 and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party)'s 31, both belong to the opposition.

Before going to school the next day, I finally understood why I got the easy 'A's the semester before. One simple truth - TARC is governed by MCA.

Maybe that's one of the reasons I should leave TARC. There will not be an election any time soon before I graduate.