Malaysia’s general election ushers in a new political landscape

PN had been able with PAS as the anchor to make major inroads into the Malay heartlands. UMNO's grip on political power in Malaysia could be coming to an end. Its clear, that civil servants, the military, Malay professionals, and young Malay voters have thrown their support behind PN, evidenced by its win in the nation's political capital Putra Jaya.

Malays have accepted the political Islam-Malay nationalist approach propagated by PAS president Abdul Hadi. Pakatan made many mistakes in candidate selection. However, this would not have made up the numbers in the final seat tally.

The Malaysian electoral map has clearly changed from voter sentiment displayed in the Johor State election, early this year. There was the absence of jailed former prime minister Najib Razak, who led the UMNO crusade during the Johor and Melaka campaigns. In contrast, caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri stayed in his own electorate to safeguard his own seat of Bera. UMNO party president did the same. It almost appeared that Khairy Jamaluddin, who was given the unwinnable seat of Sungai Buloh was the unofficial leader of UMNO. This is in contrast to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who made whistlestop tours around the nation by helicopter during the campaign, displaying the old 'reformasi' fervour he was famous for.

With the new political landscape in mind, Sarawak's GPS is the obvious kingmaker of any new government. There are two basic choices for GPS to make. There are positives and negatives of both choices for GPS. PAS on the PN is not welcomed because of their political Islamic policies, and the DAP on the PH side is disliked because of what is seen as chauvinism.

However, there could be an unexpected coalition cobbled together before any anti-hoping laws take effect, once inside the parliament.