The perfect storm on March 8

The perfect storm on March 8
Steven Gan
Malaysiakini (subscription reqd) - Mar 19, 2008

‘Are you sure?’ Those were the words most often heard on the night of March 8 in Malaysiakini's newsroom.

As reports poured in from our network of journalists and volunteers across the nation, editors at our own makeshift election operations centre were dumbstruck. ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Are you sure?’

The nation, too, was stunned as we relayed up-to-the-minute results on cyberspace.

At 7.50pm, we confirmed PAS had retained Kelantan. Twenty minutes later, Penang fell into the opposition's hands. At 9.30pm, PAS conceded defeat in Terengganu.

The swing against the government was, more or less, as expected. Or so we thought.

Soon we received news that S Samy Vellu was trounced in Sungai Siput - the seat which the MIC supremo had held for three decades. His defeat was followed by that of a number of top Barisan Nasional leaders.

Then the shocker - at 11pm, the PAS-led opposition coalition snatched Kedah.

And there was even more to come. Selangor fell at 12.25am and 90 minutes later the DAP-PKR-PAS alliance claimed victory in Perak. At 2.42am, the opposition denied the BN government - for the second time in 50 years - its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The impossible had happened. That night, history was being made.

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