What a shocking General Election it has been for Malaysians! In a good way that is.

Last night, at 9pm, when my husband and I checked the unofficial results on MalaysiaKini website, news has it that Penang has fallen to the opposition with DAP taking significant number of seats. That was enough to send our adrenaline pumping.

Unfortunately our local TV stations, RTM and TV3 were very slow announcing the tallied results. Even at 11pm, they were only reporting Barisan Nasional’s victories in East Malaysia: Sabah and Sarawak. TV3 was particularly annoying, constantly babbling and citing racial sentiments as the main cause of Barisan Nasional’s losts. Very dangerous to be discussing racial issues on national TV. TV3 is one of Barisan’s mouthpiece so I was not surprised they are stooping so low to incite racial tension right now. Despite that, I am certain that times have changed since the unfortunate riot of May 13 1969. The majority of Malaysian citizens are more educated, well-informed and wiser.

I was off to bed at around 12am last night while my husband continued to monitor the polling results. By then, a handful of northern peninsular states are reported to be in opposition hands. Penang and Kedah was confirmed to have won by the oppositions. PAS retains Kelantan by an increased majority victory. On top of that, several Barisan’s big names have fallen - Samy Vellu, Shahrizat, Kayveas to name a few. MIC and MCA were being slaughtered by the polls. LOL! What a thumping loss for the ruling coalition yes-men parties!

It was all over by 2.45am, as I was woken up by my husband and told that Barisan Nasional has been denied a 2/3 majority in parliamentary seats. The opposition has successfully won 82 of out 222 parliamentary seats. Much more than what they have expected. Much more than what I have hoped for.

I am so elated to see Malaysians have voiced their dissatifaction with the current government and let the poll do the talking. At the very least, this victory shows that the rakyat (citizens) are not fools to be toyed with. We do not buy into all that crap being fed to us by UMNO. The thinking community, as proven by oppositions’ victory in urban states most notably Penang, Perak and Selangor, is wise enough to know what’s good for the country and what is holding Malaysia back: UMNO. The wise Malays, Chinese and Indian have united and showed Barisan Nasional what people power and democracy is all about. Think twice before messing with the people I’ll say.