Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

Lim Guan Eng and DAP, You Can Change Hearts and Minds

March 10, 2008

As the results started filtering in from the Malaysiakini website on the historic 8/3/2008 polling date, it was clear that something magical, and probably miraculous was about to happen. In nearly all the ‘hot’ seats that were being contested, the opposition parties were leading their rivals from BN. I had to check again to see whether I was reading the website wrongly. Nope, my eyes weren’t fooling me.

By 10pm, based on unofficial results, it was announced that Kelantan had been successfully defended from the onslaught of UMNO and its promises of billions of dollars in development. Then came the big shocker as Penang was also said to have been captured by the opposition. When the dust had settled, out of the 13 Parliament seats in Penang, DAP had clinched 7, PKR 4, and BN only 2. Of the 40 state seats, DAP once again emerged the big winner as they claimed 19 seats, PKR 9, PAS 1, and BN 11. Of note is that the BN component parties of MCA, MIC, and Gerakan were totally vanquished in the state, leaving UMNO as the only BN component party to hold the fort as the opposition in the following state government.

With a clear majority achieved, the opposition claimed victory, and Lim Guan Eng, the secretary-general of DAP was designated as the next Chief Minister of Penang.

Lim Guan Eng’s victory speech:

A press conference was held on Sunday, to announce that Lim will be sworn in as Chief Minister on Tuesday, and outgoing Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon will be present to witness the official handing over of government:

So what challenges lie ahead for Lim Guan Eng?
He has promised to keep the state investor-friendly, and one of the first things will be to subject all government contracts to open tender. He has also promised to work for all Malaysians regardless of race, and all future actions by the Penang government will certainly be judged on this promise.

One of Lim Guan Eng’s biggest challenges will be to keep the opposition coalition tight, and to keep all avenues of discussion open between them, so that they can move the state forward and fulfill their election pledges. Another challenge would be to work with the federal government, especially in terms of distribution of resources by the Badawi administration. I do not believe Penang can go forward without any federal allocation, because in the end, money does matter.

DAP is also presented with a unique opportunity to shed it’s tag as a Chinese-chauvinist party, a tag that still exists in the minds of many non-Chinese. In fact, from my conversations with a few DAP supporters, they still see it as a party that serves Chinese interests mainly. This will be a chance for DAP to shed these tags, and project itself as a truly multi-racial party to all Malaysians.

11 state seats are held by BN, and all of these seats are held by UMNO. The Barisan Rakyat has always complained that funds from the state and federal level are never directly distributed to them, and I hope the new Penang state government will not fall into this trap of hypocrisy by denying state funds and allocations to the 11 state seats held by UMNO. By being generous to the opposition, DAP, as the leading party in Penang will be able to convince the voters that they are really sincere in helping all Malaysians, regardless of race. This is also good governance, as the politics of revenge and exclusion practised by BN will eventually be shunned by the rakyat. If all goes well, in 5 years time, who knows, maybe these UMNO held seats might even fall to the Barisan Rakyat.

Hearts and minds, DAP. You told the people to ‘Jom, Ubah’. Now, you’ve got a chance to ‘ubah’ the people’s hearts and minds.

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