In the history of nation building, how many denizens of this universe are lucky enough to be party to a 3am news conference seeing the rebirth of country that was teetering on the brink of tumbling into the abyss?
And in this age of Superhero silver screen film interpretation, who could be the most unlikely saviour but a revered man who is as old as Meghan Markle’s soon-to-be mum-in-law?
Back in November last year former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak grandly described GE14 was going to be the mother of all elections. How right he was – only the result was a decisive rebuff that brought the curtain down on Barisan Nasional’s six decades long unbroken rule.
Now if a single voter could be so put off by, what was it – arrogance of office, what would the cumulative reaction of the remaining 14 million voters nationwide on the incumbent party?
The maternal reference was poignant – as the eldest son of Tun Abdul Razak; Malaysia’s second Prime Minister – Najib tugged on the filial heart-strings by wheeling his mum Toh Puan Rahah to the polling station in his home constituency of Pekan.
At the risk of being accused of gloating, I must admit that I felt change was in the air when I approached the BN booth on my way to Sekolah Menengah Sri Pantai after lunch on polling day Wednesday. I asked to check if my name was on the electoral roll but was gruffly greeted by the matronly figure of a party worker in BN blue and told to make my own way to the polling station a fair distance away.
Not a very smart vote-catching move I thought. Party apparatchiks must have been paid a generous stipend, supposedly engaged to show the fatherly and caring side of Lembah Pantai candidate Raja Nong Chik. He had put in so much effort and resources and was rightly super-confident that #IniKaliLah, he was going to finally win the seat for the second time of asking.
Hell hath no fury like a voter scorned – oops, no, I am not telling you who I pinned my `X’ when I finally found my polling centre.
Now if a single voter could be so put off by, what was it – arrogance of office, what would the cumulative reaction of the remaining 14 million voters nationwide on the incumbent party? They after all have a litany of complaints, unanswered questions about 1MDB and rising cost of living issues to grapple with. The Malays often use the word mual – nauseating – with their concerns about extravagance, wanton waste, inefficiency and the PM doling out largesse that would make Santa Claus blush.
This culture of rewarding indolence for the sake of self-aggrandisement and courting popularity really reached its climax on the eve of the election when Najib – in a last kopek effort dished out even more whimsical goodies that seem so outlandishly unnecessary. One wonders who our PM listens to for advice on running the economy and caring for the nation’s kitty.
And, with the proliferation of the internet and voter reliance on social media, shortcomings in the conduct of various government agencies like the Election Commission, the Registrar of Societies just to name just two became fodder for the opposition.
But perhaps the elephant in the room rightly feared by the BN camp was Tun M the Superman.
Right up to election day, the EC became a lightning rod for simmering internal protest that must have translated into punishment votes. Issues that cropped up include potential vote count tampering, mislabelling, long queues resulting in the denial of entry to some voters into the polling booths by 5pm. Such high-handedness does not go unnoticed nor unpunished when every incident gets posted on social media.
But perhaps the elephant in the room rightly feared by the BN camp was Tun M the Superman.
In Langkawi, his BN opponent made the job easier each time he failed to control his propensity to mouth off inane if not infantile diatribes. His rival famously said dissociated GST as the cause of rising prices. The semi-bright spark went on to say inflation had existed even during the time of the Japanese occupation.
Soon after polling was over and the seemingly interminable time it took for the EC to announce the results, Tun M took charge by holding a news conference streamed live pointing out to possible shenanigans on their part.
Armed with unofficial results collated through manual tallying at each counting centers, Tun M announced that Pakatan Harapan had enough seats to claim it was first past the post.
He challenged the dithering EC and it was deep into the dawn of the next day that Pakatan Harapan called for the second press conference to call out its victory.
Thursday 10th May hence became the dawn of a brand new day.
That was when Tun M magnanimously assured former PM Najib that he was not seeking revenge, only that the rule of law prevailed. So did 14 million Malaysian voters during GE14, well; the majority of them anyway.
