The first Monday after The Revolution

Call it the Malaysian revolution if you prefer but what happen last weekend was no

nonsense. It defines the very fabric of being a Malaysian. Here's a few of my take on

the election:

Have we really transend the racial barrier?

Johor is an Umno stronghold, not even when the whole Reformasi thing was every

Malaysian's favorite 'teh tarik topic' did the opposition manage to set a foot in

Johor, yet this time around, Pas actually scores 2 seats... let me say that again

just in case you missed it, Pas scored 2 seats!. I mean, I'm not that astonished if

DAP won any seat in Johor since the Chinese and Indian community are probably voting

for them, but Pas? Voting for Pas for the typical Malay Johorean is almost equivalent

of throwing your children to tigers and yet Pas won 2 seats, I suspect the Chinese

and Indian actually voted for Pas.

The same thing happen in Penang. No matter how bad the government is, Penang will

always stay loyal to BN and yet this time around DAP manage to wrestle Penang. I'm

sure that many of the Penang Malays actually voted for DAP.

In previous election, the races are always posed againts each other. When the Anwar

debacle was at its height, BN urge the Chineses and Indians to support them lest

there'll be people cutting off hands on every street corner in the country. When the

Chineses were all worked up on the Chinese schools matter, the Malays are urged to

vote for BN lest their children will be slaves to the Chinese masters and no Malay

will ever set foot in a University again.

And yet... and yet, this time around, while the fear-monggering still smell as badly

as before, it is mostly ignored. Have we, as a nation, moved away from fearing each

other and starting to leverage each other's strength instead? I can't say, but this

is really a move in the right direction if anything.


Pas and its Islamic agenda

To Pas: one word come to mind when talking about the Islamic agenda: Prioritise!.

Islam promotes values which are acceptable to all and I'm sure a lot of my non-Muslim

friends would cringe if people start cutting hands left and right. [And BTW, Islam

does not advocate cutting off hands left and right, everything must be done through a

court of justice and the guilty must be guilty "beyond ANY doubt", not just "beyond

reasonable doubt"]. So, as starters please propagate the Islamic values first. I'm

sure with values and good governance alone, Pas has a lot to implement. In my

opinion, Pas' Islamic agenda should start with these:

1) Be humble and honest to people, be greatful to God

2) Freedom and transparency

3) Let experts run things they are expert in [There was a hadith that says - Give
responsibility to those who are experts in it]- (I.E. don't let a politician run a University)

These three values alone would keep Pas busy until the next election. And don't ever

do anything radical (like publishing another ISD) before getting consent from the

people who elected you in the first place.

All the best to Malaysians