Change? Yes, we can!

Malaysia just celebrated her 52nd Independence Day, and I believe the time is ripe for a serious shake-up in the established socio-political structure. The signs can already be seen: the March 2008 electoral tsunami, 7 out of 8 by-election wins by the Opposition, the huge anti-ISA rally in the heart of KL, the discontented rumblings of the citizens on the internet, and others. Next step is to take down the entrenched BN government and give PR the opportunity to rule for a change.

Lesson can be learned from the recent legislative election in Japan where the long rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) finally came to an end. The LDP had been in power virtually throughout the post-war period (almost 63 years) and its reign was rudely terminated by a landslide victory of the opposition Democratic party. By the way, for reasons unknown, the name Liberal Democratic in LDP is totally misleading since the party is anything but liberal and democratic. It's a deeply conservative party that has monopolized the Japanese politics for the past six decades. Ultimately the Japanese voters decided that enough is enough and threw the LDP bums out of office in a resounding win for the Democrats. The Democratic party sees a 175 percent increase of its share of seats in the Parliament at the expense of the LDP legislators.

It goes to show that peaceful transfer of power in a virtually one-party system through electoral means is definitely possible. Examples are abound but the one that came to my mind is the ouster of the long dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI - Partido Revolucionario Institucional) in Mexico in 2000. PRI, at that time, had ruled Mexico for 71 years before it finally crumbled under the weight of corruption, mismanagement, and hubris. So, at the very least, the tremors in the Malaysian politics now are the precursors to much significant changes in the near future. I know people in the Opposition cannot wait to contest the next general election in 2013 while the ruling government dreads it. Unless something radical and unexpected happens between now until then, the writings on the wall cannot be any clearer for the ruling establishment: come hell or high water, in 2013 there will be a new sheriff in town. Yeah, Malaysia Boleh!