For many, the results of the 13th general election were a big disappointment.
Supporters of Pakatan Rakyat were sure - even before they cast their votes - that there would be a new government in Putrajaya post-election, judging by the huge turnouts at their rallies and ceramahs.
BN supporters were equally disappointed. Many expected an improvement from 2008, with the slew of transformations introduced by Najib Abdul Razak and his dangling of many goodies to the Chinese and Indian communities - almost unprecedented for a sitting prime minister in this multinational country.
Many who wanted a change said and believed that it is for a cleaner, corruption-free country and good governance. Unfortunately, those who don't, see it as an assault on their livelihood and racial supremacy.
The clear winner among political parties must be the DAP, while the biggest losers are BN's Chinese-based parties such as MCA, Gerakan and SUPP.
MCA, in particular, has been a victim of its own success. For over 60 years, the party was the de facto representative of the Chinese community. Its many achievements and contributions to the community, especially in education, and its earlier successes, have attracted a huge number of followers - largely the business community and middle-class Malaysians.
Unfortunately, many of them are also opportunists who wanted to share in the success, but not contribute to the well-being of the community. The result is a clear and irreversible decline that was made worse by in-fighting and jostling for positions.
The 2008 political tsunami should have been a clear warning, but the party failed to heed the new political reality, and as a result, is now completely abandoned by the very community it has been established to serve.
The same can be said of the MIC, which has by and large lost its appeal to ordinary, working-class Indians.
Resistance among DAP supporters
Like the MCA, DAP is also trapped by its own success. While it has won the second most number of seats among all political parties (after Umno), it is still very much a Chinese-based organisation.
While its top leaders have espoused a more representative, more multi-racial make-up, the reality is that its grassroot leaders are decidedly pro-Chinese, if not outright Chinese supremacists.
At ceramahs, its candidates would call for moderation and a multiracial society that rejects corruption. But at the pasar and warongs in Chinese-majority areas, many of its grassroot leaders are openly spreading anti-Malay propaganda.
One grassroots leader went to the extent of quitting the party, when it became apparent that an Indian candidate would be chosen to replace a popular Chinese candidate who was quitting the contest.
In some seats, such as the mixed seat of Simpang Renggam in Johor, the resistance of the local Chinese community - who, by and large, are swayed by DAP - to voting for the Islamist PAS resulted in the re-election of its Chinese Gerakan incumbent.
Even in urban, Chinese-majority constituencies, the vote for Pakatan could have been larger, if not for the resistance of some hardcore DAP supporters to voting for PAS and PKR.
The same is true for many of PAS and PKR supporters, who still perceive DAP as a party of Chinese supremacists. Their leaders may have a more worldly view of things, and believe in a common goal to unseat BN even at the expense of their own party agendas - but the political reality is that a party is made up of not just the top leaders, but also its grassroots leaders and supporters.
The Umno-PBB alliance continued grip on power is not by accident. For many years, both parties have groomed their reputation and followings among the country's more rural communities. So much so that GE13 outcome should have been a foregone conclusion.
Unfortunately for Pakatan, they have not been able to muscle enough support to wrest the more rural seats from BN - 55 years of voting for the dacing simply can't be changed overnight. To those who are living in longhouses and are oblivious to much of the rest of the world, the dacing is a symbol of authority.
Many would argue that this has been the dirtiest election in Malaysia's history. But the point is this: if either side garners overwhelming support from all segments of the society, no amount of dirty tactics would work.
Even more would argue that BN has been gerrymandering the boundaries of constituencies so that urban, more educated Malaysians would have a lower share of voice than rural Malaysians.
Again, if indeed every segment is supportive of an alternative alliance of parties, then the very same gerrymandering could work against BN. Fact is, it hasn't.
What's next for Malaysian politics
A true two-party system is very different from a two-alliance system.
It is clear that Malaysians are rejecting racial politics. However, unless we see a party with clear, unified (as opposed to common) goals, the majority of fence-sitters will continue to vote for the status quo.
There's no way one can sidestep the issue and hope that a common enemy will help to hold two disparate parties together.
PAS, for example, will never drop its Islamist agenda, for that is the raison d'etre of the party. DAP, on the other hand, will never give up its aim to remove preferential treatment for certain races, and for very real and often selfish reasons, it can never gain the vote and trust of the Malays.
The beneficiary is of course PKR, who fills the vacuum and has become the glue that holds the other two parties together. But such marriages of convenience don't last. History and political reality are against this.
BN also has much soul-searching to do. It is a reality that it cannot govern a multi-racial country in the absence of the support of one community.
The utopian solution is to merge all component parties into one, with clear mechanisms for the protection of minority communities. But at least one Umno leader, and its founder no less, has been demonised for calling for exactly that.
The next battle will be won by whichever alliance is better able to present a unified front, and attract clean, bright personalities to represent it. In GE13, both tried. And both failed.
Perhaps, in five years' time, when many of these older grassroot leaders have retired or edged out, we might have clearer choices to choose from.
Supporters of Pakatan Rakyat were sure - even before they cast their votes - that there would be a new government in Putrajaya post-election, judging by the huge turnouts at their rallies and ceramahs.
BN supporters were equally disappointed. Many expected an improvement from 2008, with the slew of transformations introduced by Najib Abdul Razak and his dangling of many goodies to the Chinese and Indian communities - almost unprecedented for a sitting prime minister in this multinational country.
Many who wanted a change said and believed that it is for a cleaner, corruption-free country and good governance. Unfortunately, those who don't, see it as an assault on their livelihood and racial supremacy.
The clear winner among political parties must be the DAP, while the biggest losers are BN's Chinese-based parties such as MCA, Gerakan and SUPP.
MCA, in particular, has been a victim of its own success. For over 60 years, the party was the de facto representative of the Chinese community. Its many achievements and contributions to the community, especially in education, and its earlier successes, have attracted a huge number of followers - largely the business community and middle-class Malaysians.Unfortunately, many of them are also opportunists who wanted to share in the success, but not contribute to the well-being of the community. The result is a clear and irreversible decline that was made worse by in-fighting and jostling for positions.
The 2008 political tsunami should have been a clear warning, but the party failed to heed the new political reality, and as a result, is now completely abandoned by the very community it has been established to serve.
The same can be said of the MIC, which has by and large lost its appeal to ordinary, working-class Indians.
Resistance among DAP supporters
Like the MCA, DAP is also trapped by its own success. While it has won the second most number of seats among all political parties (after Umno), it is still very much a Chinese-based organisation.
While its top leaders have espoused a more representative, more multi-racial make-up, the reality is that its grassroot leaders are decidedly pro-Chinese, if not outright Chinese supremacists.
At ceramahs, its candidates would call for moderation and a multiracial society that rejects corruption. But at the pasar and warongs in Chinese-majority areas, many of its grassroot leaders are openly spreading anti-Malay propaganda.
One grassroots leader went to the extent of quitting the party, when it became apparent that an Indian candidate would be chosen to replace a popular Chinese candidate who was quitting the contest.
In some seats, such as the mixed seat of Simpang Renggam in Johor, the resistance of the local Chinese community - who, by and large, are swayed by DAP - to voting for the Islamist PAS resulted in the re-election of its Chinese Gerakan incumbent.Even in urban, Chinese-majority constituencies, the vote for Pakatan could have been larger, if not for the resistance of some hardcore DAP supporters to voting for PAS and PKR.
The same is true for many of PAS and PKR supporters, who still perceive DAP as a party of Chinese supremacists. Their leaders may have a more worldly view of things, and believe in a common goal to unseat BN even at the expense of their own party agendas - but the political reality is that a party is made up of not just the top leaders, but also its grassroots leaders and supporters.
The Umno-PBB alliance continued grip on power is not by accident. For many years, both parties have groomed their reputation and followings among the country's more rural communities. So much so that GE13 outcome should have been a foregone conclusion.Unfortunately for Pakatan, they have not been able to muscle enough support to wrest the more rural seats from BN - 55 years of voting for the dacing simply can't be changed overnight. To those who are living in longhouses and are oblivious to much of the rest of the world, the dacing is a symbol of authority.
Many would argue that this has been the dirtiest election in Malaysia's history. But the point is this: if either side garners overwhelming support from all segments of the society, no amount of dirty tactics would work.
Even more would argue that BN has been gerrymandering the boundaries of constituencies so that urban, more educated Malaysians would have a lower share of voice than rural Malaysians.
Again, if indeed every segment is supportive of an alternative alliance of parties, then the very same gerrymandering could work against BN. Fact is, it hasn't.
What's next for Malaysian politics
A true two-party system is very different from a two-alliance system.
It is clear that Malaysians are rejecting racial politics. However, unless we see a party with clear, unified (as opposed to common) goals, the majority of fence-sitters will continue to vote for the status quo.
There's no way one can sidestep the issue and hope that a common enemy will help to hold two disparate parties together.
PAS, for example, will never drop its Islamist agenda, for that is the raison d'etre of the party. DAP, on the other hand, will never give up its aim to remove preferential treatment for certain races, and for very real and often selfish reasons, it can never gain the vote and trust of the Malays.The beneficiary is of course PKR, who fills the vacuum and has become the glue that holds the other two parties together. But such marriages of convenience don't last. History and political reality are against this.
BN also has much soul-searching to do. It is a reality that it cannot govern a multi-racial country in the absence of the support of one community.
The utopian solution is to merge all component parties into one, with clear mechanisms for the protection of minority communities. But at least one Umno leader, and its founder no less, has been demonised for calling for exactly that.
The next battle will be won by whichever alliance is better able to present a unified front, and attract clean, bright personalities to represent it. In GE13, both tried. And both failed.
Perhaps, in five years' time, when many of these older grassroot leaders have retired or edged out, we might have clearer choices to choose from.
WILLIAM NG is president of Enterprise Asia, an NGO for entrepreneurship.
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