May 9th was a historic day for Malaysia, as the incumbent BN was spectacularly booted out of office, amidst claims of major impropriety, money laundering, and corruption. The people or the Rakyat have spoken and Mahathir Mohammed, the 93 wily politician, galvanised the hearts and minds of the people, cobbled through all the various opposition parties, calling themselves Pakatan Harapan and under this univified umbrella, unseated the incumbent Barisan Nasional which includes UMNO as its major component. He was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia on May 10th and I take my hat off to this master politician who is so well respected in this part of the world. True, his policies in the past were not too good for Singapore, playing hardball, but he always had the Malaysian people's interests at the topmost of his mind. That is the true difference between him and the recently deposed ex-Prime Minister Najib.
My heartiest congratulations to all those who voted, proudly, showing off their unwashed index fingers. Many Malaysians are working in Singapore because of the weakened ringgit in the last 5 years or so, the taking away of many extra overtime pay, and the overall rapid rising cost of living. An ordinary small bowl of wanton mee cost me RM 5 which is S$ 1.80 but for the ordinary technician who earns only RM 3,000 that is a hefty increase from just 10 years ago when it cost RM 3.
The question in everyone's minds was, is life better now than it was 5 years ago in the 2013 elections. I think the answer was very clear on May 9th. A 60 odd year ruling party has been unseated unceremoniously at the polls.
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