And the Winner is ......

Parliament - BN 198 Opposition 21. State – BN 451 Opposition 52.

As always, after the elections, there will be the “post-mortems” by the political parties and the analysis/comments by professionals and amateurs alike. Questions will be asked and answers attempted.

In this vein, I have but one question – Who really was the winner of Elections 2004?

Was it the man himself, Pak Lah, who asked for a bigger mandate and got it?
Or was it UMNO for winning back the Malay votes. Maybe, some would argue, the winner was DAP for being “re-instated” as the Opposition.

And if you read some of the foreign press, the suggestion was that “Islam Hadari” or “moderate and progressive Islam” triumphed –

“In particular, many ethnic-Malay Muslims, who make up about 60% of Malaysia's 25 million population, turned away from PAS to embrace Mr. Abdullah's more-tolerant brand of Islam and the secular-oriented National Front (AWSJ)”

"If this election says one thing it says that Malaysia is rejecting
the Islamization policies of PAS…

“…the new prime minister appealed to voters who support a moderate version of Islam (NYT)

But for me, the REAL WINNER WAS MALAYSIA.

The morning after the elections, it was still ticking in the familiar way we have grown use to - in the larger scheme of things, as a secular country where religions are not sidelined (Islam as official religion and freedom of worship well enshrined in the constitution) and where diversity of race and culture is acknowledged and generally respected. Nothing changed.

Malaysia, like a clock, needs to be wound up every now and then – once in the seventies after the dark days of 1969 and now, 2004, after the troubling times at the end of the last century.

And for that we have to thank the millions of Malaysians, young and old, who allowed common sense and pragmatism to prevail and showed maturity in voting, not only for their personal interest but also that of Malaysia’s.

The positive image painted of our country these last few days, going by reports emitting from the medias of our neighbour down south to that of Australia, USA and UK bears testimony to all this.