Well, the Malaysian general election has come and gone. The results have sunk in and the country is now in the dawn of a new era. Whether it will last till the next election or longer is anyone's guess.
But now that the country is slowly starting to return to normalcy after the euphoria of the past few days, the opposition parties have a huge task ahead of them.
First and foremost is to form a good working relationship with each other. This to me is the most important task if they are to succeed. After all, the three different parties have their own ideologies and agendas. So they will really need to find a common ground and either compromise or chuck out those that stand in their way.
To me, the wild card is the pan-Islamic PAS. Being an Islamic political party, it's natural that their interest is the promotion of Islam. But one of the biggest issues (I gather) facing Malaysia now is the balancing of Islamic interest with that of the other religions.
There have been too many cases where unproven (or claimed by third parties) conversion to Islam has been used to rule against the family who are adherents of other religions. And of course, we also have the civil courts refusing to rule against or get involved in cases where the Islamic courts have jurisdiction in, thus giving primacy to these courts and their rulings.
I am not criticising or attacking PAS, but I really cannot see how they can divorce their politics from Islam. I mean if they do it, wouldn't they be betraying the very religion that they based their existence on? But if they don't, then how will the alternative coalition formulate policies that are equitable to all.
Tough call. But it will be interesting to see how it will all work out for next four to five years. Will they out-perform BN or will they go for each other's throat and implode?
Personally, I really want them to succeed and out-perform BN. And in the process, help the country move away from the parochial race-based politics that has created more divisions than unity and has exceeded its shelf life by years.
Maybe UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) can learn from this and surprise us all by transforming itself from just the United Malays National Organisation to the United Malaysians Organisation.
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They've as a result shelved the immediate project of an Islamic state (someone in there mentioned a 100 year timeframe).
What's interesting is of course whether they will nevertheless have to bow a little to religious conservatism in the new states they've picked up, in terms of the application of syriah law and so on.
On the other hand, it is just as well that they are not forming the next government -- in other words, the war has not yet swung completely in their favour. If they want to sustain their electoral success they will have to read as a clear signal that the ground wants more rather than less religiously moderate governance. This may result in genuine reform to their current platform.
I have a feeling that if they start getting heavy handed, they'll lose their new seats the next time round.