ANYONE who went on the campaign trail would have noticed that the posters of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were almost non-existent in places where Barisan Nasional was contesting.
The instructions given out by most Barisan candidates was that Ahmad Zahid had become a liability.
Both Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan had hammered home the point that Barisan was associated with corruption.
Any picture of Ahmad Zahid, who is still facing a slew of corruption charges, unfortunately was a stark reminder.
He himself only managed to keep his Bagan Datuk seat with a few hundred votes.
The writing on the wall is clear and any responsible leader should know what to do.
Almost every speaker at Perikatan and Pakatan ceramah harped on this issue linking Ahmad Zahid and corruption. The only difference was that in the mega gatherings of Pakatan, confined mostly in urban areas, the voters believed Pakatan would win enough to form the Federal Government.
The analysts said Pakatan would win big but not enough to hit the simple majority of 112.
But many Pakatan diehard supporters chose to believe in Kita Boleh.
Over at Perikatan, the coalition parties quietly worked the Malay heartland with the same message. There was no need for mega gatherings like Pakatan.
The surveys and pollsters did not seem to correctly register the Malay voices, with all saying Pakatan was leading – which was accurate – except that they didn’t take Perikatan seriously until the last 48 hours.
But for many Malay Undi18 voters who also detested corruption – their preference was Perikatan, especially PAS.
The fact that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Muda chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman were given a fierce fight by their opponents, even trailing at some point, is evidence that many Malays did not share the ideals of Pakatan.
Possibly they include the many Malay youths who embraced the Islamic values espoused by PAS and the many preachers who are hugely followed on social media.
These influential Islamic personalities have millions of followers each and even PAS theologians enjoy this celebrity status.
Most non-Malays living in the cities have little knowledge of this Islamic phenomenon.
In Permatang Pauh, the PAS candidate who beat Pakatan’s Nurul Izzah is Ustaz Muhammad Fawwaz Mohd Jin, 39, with a degree from Al Azhar University in Egypt.
The father of 11 children listed himself as a preacher and a CEO of an Islamic foundation.
The reality is that DAP or its supporters will not be able to change the course of history alone as the Chinese population is just about 25%.
With the gerrymandering exercise and malapportionment, the Chinese votes only have about 20% more value than the votes of the rural areas.
In short, the huge Chinese turnout will just increase the votes of the Pakatan candidates in the urban seats but will not increase the number of representatives.
As an example, Pakatan-DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo won with a whopping majority of 124,619 votes. He polled 143,619 votes against Perikatan (18,256) and Barisan (13,806).
Gobind actually cast his vote in Penang, where his address is located.
The biggest winner is PAS – which had 18 Members of Parliament before dissolution but has reached 49 this GE15.
It controls Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu and now Perlis with a large share in Pahang.
The Islamist party will now demand a larger share of Cabinet representation with an eye for the powerful positions. After all, it has more seats than Bersatu.
The policies and directions of the federal government are set to change.
If Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin becomes Prime Minister, then he has to bring Malaysia together and reassure everyone that Malaysia is multiracial and multireligious.
The Perikatan manifesto has clearly stated that it is committed to the Malay agenda and Islam, and his recent remarks on Jewish Christian prayers have remained fresh in the minds of many non-Muslims. He has said he was quoted out of context. And Perikatan also made it clear that it respected and recognised the position of Malaysians of other faiths.
Politicians on both sides of the divide have said things that they shouldn’t have said and then denied them, just to win votes.
The elections are over, and the winners have been declared. Malaysia cannot remain divided.
PAS surely understands that it needs a sensible and acceptable narrative and optics.
Its leaders cannot continue to issue statements that spook the country. The fact is that the same yardstick that may be “standard” in Afghanistan or elsewhere in West Asia cannot be applicable in Malaysia.
But then, we hope the parties from Sabah and Sarawak would be able to provide the checks and balances to ensure that moderation is practised.
For the first time in Malaysia, we have a hung parliament.
It means no one party can form a government on its own. Not Bersatu, PAS or GPS – every ethnic group needs the backing of another.
Pakatan may or may not be in government, but we should not forget it has the largest number of seats.
In the end, the red Pakatan wave was strong but it wasn’t enough. It was the PAS green tsunami that made the difference.
