a new day for malaysia

it is 3.00am in the morning and i am still up listening to the results (not on TV form RTM - they are too shy to release the results, claiming all sorts of reasons for the delays). i am on malaysiakini instead where i get the news faster than the official sites like NST, Star, TV1, TV2 TV3.

the results have been overwhleming. the rakyat has spoken. but nobody expected this 'political tsunami' (lim kit siang). the rakyat wanted to tell the government a lesson but didn't expect this consequences (Minister of Women and Family Shahrizat Abdul Jalil).

PAS was only defending Kelantan from the BN onslaught but instead won handsomely and Kedah as well. DAP made an onslaught on Penang hoping to dent the BN majority but won the state by sweeping all 19 seats it contested. Not only that they won Perak and Selangor as well (being the largest party in the opposition). but probably the menteri besars of Perak and Selangor will go to a PKR guy, so everyone will be happy-happy.

5 state governments in the hands of the barisan rakyat? nobody dreamed of this day. this is indeed history that all malaysians will remember. like one of my favourite movies V for Vendetta, it is about a new day, a new tommorrow.

meanwhile, in negeri sembilan where i live, here is the news:

The Negri Sembilan Barisan Nasional barely managed to form the State Government by a simple majority after it suffered shock defeats in the hands of the Opposition, led by the DAP.

The State MCA was almost totally wiped out by the DAP and only managed to retain one state seat - Chennah - where its candidate Siow Chen Pin defeated How Wee Shiong from the DAP with a 1,298 majority.

The MCA lost the Rasah and Seremban parliament seats, while MIC vice-president S. Sothinathan was defeated by state Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chairman, Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Abbas for the Teluk Kemang parliament seat. Sothinathan polled 20,544, while Kamarul managed 23,348 and independent candidate, Mohd Rashid got 601 votes.

National Wanita MCA secretary-general Datuk Yu Chok Tow was defeated by DAP's John Fernandez by a 3,948 majority for the Seremban seat, while state MCA deputy chairman, Datuk Dr Yeow Chai Thiam was defeated by state DAP chairman, Anthony Loke Siew Fook in Rasah.

State Gerakan chairman, Datuk Woo Ah Lek lost his Senawang state seat which he held for three terms to P. Gunasekaran from the DAP, while state MIC chairman, Datuk T. Rajagopalu was defeated by PKR's M. Ravi by a 733 majority. Rajagopalu polled 3,742, while Ravi got 4,475 and independent candidate, M. Jeeva Kumar got only 196 votes.

Meanwhile, Anthony Loke, who also successfully defended his Lobak state seat said the victory was a big surprise to the DAP and a clear sign to the BN not to take things for granted.

"We are extremely happy with our performance. This is the best showing for the DAP in the state so far and is the beginning towards much better governance," he said.

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