New political sky, a new game!

New political sky, a new game!
Malaysiakini (subscription reqd) - 15 Mar 2008

...
Before this election, nobody would be convinced by my analysis, least of all my above mentioned neighbours. They had believed in too many false myths for too long.

And now that alternative governments are possible, at least at the state level, with the parliament falling into opposition hands in the next election becoming a real possibility, the facts speak for themselves. That is how Hegel’s unseen hand of history works, often beyond the expectation and despite the subjective will to power of the main actors and their followers.

And so history is pedagogical in itself. Many myths that have been constructed to become the premises of the national narrative have been exploded and torn to smithereens by unexpected development in the last general election.

One such myth is the near mystical ‘social contract" that enabled the people of different races to share power on an unequal basis under an Umno dominated government. It has been successful for half a century. In the past, under different historical parameters, this myth was not entirely useless. Then over a long time, people of various ethnic origins could not stomach the pervasive corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power for self-enrichment carried out in the name of power-sharing and national unity.
...

The rise of an alternative coalition suddenly offers a window of opportunity for another form of more meaningful and more inclusive ethnic relation. The state governments of Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah, and Kelantan can prove to the whole nation in the next five years that they can look after all citizens better than any government that is run on the race-based politics of the BN.

...more