ANWAR, ANWAR, ANWAR….

The Malaysian general election, held on Saturday, is a breakthrough and milestone for the neigboring country’s political history.

Despite the fact that the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (the national front, BN) remains the winner but it loses quite a lot of seats in parliament.

The BN just gains 137 seats or loses about 32 percent from what it got in the 2004 election. At that time, the BN grabbed 199 seats. In return, the Barisan Alternatif (alternative front, opposition camp) gets 82 seats. This is an incredible achievement because in 2004, the opposition parties could only have 20 seats.

As a result, Abdullah Badawi, who will very much likely be sworn in as the neighbor’s prime minister, can no longer dictate the parliament as his government did in the past. The BN no longer dominates two third of total seats in the parliament.

The “victory” of opposition parties, including the Malaysian People’s Justice Party (PKRM), cannot be separated from the roles of Anwar Ibrahim, the husband of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, chairperson of PKRM.

Anwar has proven that he is NOT a “bankrupt politician” as accused by his political opponents within the government’s camp. The election has revealed that Anwar, the former finance minister and deputy premier that Dr.Mahathir Mohammad sacked and jailed in 1998, remains loved by his people from different religious, cultural, and ethnical backgrounds in Malaysia.

His daughter, Nurul Izzah, follows her mother’s success in defeating the BN’s candidate. Nurul, dubbed by the Malaysian public as a “putri reformasi” (the lady of reformation), defeated the Minister for Women Development Shahrizat Jalil in Lembah Pantai electorate, Kuala Lumpur. This is indeed an amazing thing, isn’t it?

The charisma of Anwar Ibrahim is far from fading away in the eyes of the Malaysian people, who dream of seeing a new Malaysia -- the country which is well developed, not arrogant, not oppressive to minorities and foreign migrant workers, and also friendly to its neighbors.

He has shown the world that the Malaysian people are more powerful than the government’s gripped mass media, which are not fair to him and other opposition leaders. The people have punished Pak Lah, popular nickname of incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, for his failure to make Malaysia
an economically, socially and culturally-equal home for its multicultural and multi-ethnic nation.

Especially for Zainuddin Maidin, the information minister who lost his seat after being defeated in the Saturday election, this is my message: I think your defeat is also partly caused by your unfairness to the migrant workers of Indonesia. In your opinion, the Indonesian maids need not be given any holiday because they are "part of the family" employing them. Suppose they are regarded as part of the family, should they lose their rights to get a day off as other foreign maids, like those from the Philippines working in Malaysia, have been enjoying for years? How can it be? But, anyway, he has gone though there is no guarantee that his successor will be the person, who has empathy and good spirit to find the fair treatment to any foreign worker in Malaysia.

Regardless of the remaining old regime in power, let us give applause to Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition camp for their success in bringing a new hope for the future of good Malaysia. Anwar …. Anwar … Anwar….