With the top two seats opened for competition, there are plenty of rooms for speculations obviously.

From the trend it seems like the current leadership is in favour of vice-president Datuk Ong Tee Keat, who has been walking side by side with Ong Ka Ting in some grassroots’ visits recently.

Party secretary-general Datuk Ong Ka Chuan is likely to join hands with Ong Tee Keat to contest for the deputy post. If he is to go directly for the top, people would probably claim nepotism and it could backfire on him. Besides, he is not really a popular leader all these years… far behind the popularity his brother used to have.

The interesting thing is actually on the outsiders… Chua Soi Lek for example, might be making a comeback after his infamous sex scandal. It would be totally bizarre if he becomes the party president though, regardless on how discontent the party members are to the current leadership.

At the time of writing, non-BN parties (let’s drop the term ‘opposition’ shall we?) have officially claimed the states of Penang, Kedah and Kelantan. Selangor and Perak are also reported to have won by non-BN alliances, albeit unofficial.

It’s just the beginning though… set aside PAS that has been governing Kelantan for years, DAP and PKR are noobs when it comes to governing a state. I am not saying that they are not capable to do so, it’s however a fact that they are facing a new challenge that they had never faced before… governance.

First thing first, they need to do their best to maintain peace. I don’t think we will have any serious riots or demos following the victories in these states, but we do need to take extra safety precautions to maintain peace.

They need to form their state government ASAP. DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng has been announced as the next Penang Chief Minister, and will form the state government with allianced parties. Kelantan will obviously lead by PAS… I am not so sure about Kedah though, PAS and PKR will have to sort that out ASAP.

Selangor might be giving the real headache… if the non-BN parties do win the majority seats, PKR is the most likely party to lead the state government. Thing is, DAP has won more seats (unofficially) than PKR, but I think they should be able to sort it out rather peacefully as DAP has already have Penang in hand (maybe Perak as well).

So, what’s next? Time to fulfill their promises. All these parties have promised an awful lots of things… not only that they need to fulfill those, they also need to avoid doing things that they have been criticising the BN government of.

The first case that comes into my mind is the Motorola saga; the previous BN government was reported to have offered them a RM1 billion project so that they will stay in Penang… and the non-BN parties have strongly oppose to it. Thing is, if Motorola is deciding to leave just after the new government is formed, how would they respond to it?

Facing the risk of losing thousands of job opportunities (mind that the downstream industry might be affected too), the new DAP & PKR government might have to resort to something similar as well, which on short term is actually a right thing to do… but they can’t do that obviously, as they would be breaking the rare trust that the people have given them.

There are lots of other issues to think of… Penang Bridge, the Rapid buses, environmental issues, the sharing of wealth, and other social issues… and I am still not starting on Kedah and Selangor yet.

It’s going to be a long story, to cut it short… there’s a huge challenge ahead; and a precious opportunity on the other hand for the non-BN parties to show the people what they can do… not just for their supporters, but also showing to all Malaysians that it’s not really a bad thing to change.

For better or worse… we will be seeing a new Malaysia when we wake up the next morning.

Parliamentary seats: BN (140), BR (82: DAP-28, PAS-23, PKR-31)
States claimed by DAP-PAS-PKR alliances: Kedah, Penang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor.

Just like many other Malaysians, I had been staying up late after the polling day to read the latest results… with waves of surprises pouring in.

Frankly, I was shocked by the outcome. I thought that the non-BN parties would have a chance to deny the 2/3 BN majority for parliamentary seats, but I didn’t really expect it to happen. The real surprise however was on BN losing 5 states, especially for Selangor… that was unexpected at all.

Regardless, for better or worst, we will be having a new Malaysia that we have never seen before… let’s hope for the best.

The controversial poster
(Image from Merdekareview)

The first version of the Chinese billboard features a caricature of Kok, clad in a skimpy red dress and matching stiletto heels, embracing ‘Mr Kinrara’ after dumping ‘Mr Seputeh’, while the second version features Kok on a rocket, flying from ‘Mr Kinrara’ to ‘Mr Seputeh’. [Malaysiakini]

The posters was meant to tease Kok who is contesting for both the Seputeh parliamentary seat and Kinrara state seat, which is actually a point worth debating… but the way the message was portrayed certainly won’t please the public, and I find it rather disgusting as well.

Kok has off course, objected strongly on the use of these degrading posters. Her objection was echoed by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG), some other non-governmental organisations and also some fellow bloggers.

The posters have been taken down yesterday (March 3), but the damage has already been done… Chew has probably just buried her political future while doing a huge favour for Kok at the coming election, which is just days away.

I am quite amazed that Chew and her MCA team had failed to foresee the negative impact before putting up the billboards… I am not going to use the word sexist as I am not really sure what draws the borderline (of being sexist or not), but the degrading nature is obvious, and it’s a cheap tactic that people don’t want to see from a MP candidate.

The 60-year-old Johor politician said his visits to inspect health facilities nationwide and meeting MCA grassroots members gave rise to speculations that he had political agenda, thus becoming a target for people to bring him down politically. [Bernama]

In an earlier interview, Chua however said that his biggest mistake was that he stayed in the hotel and in the same room for convenience.

Seems like Chua is ‘admitting’ lots of mistakes here… he somehow failed to realize though, that his biggest mistake is having sex with the other woman other than her wife.

It doesn’t matter if someone is a minister, a political leader, a secretary, a factory worker, or just somebody on the street… if you are married, you will need to learn to keep your pants up in front of other women.

Chua Soi Lek chose to take his pants down instead… THAT is his biggest mistake.

If he has had a normal private life, his political enemies won’t have a chance to take him down… at least it would be much harder to do so.

Still, a huge mistake doesn’t make him an entirely bad person. I wish him and his family well… it’s time to give this man some peace.

I still believe that he shouldn’t resign under this circumstance. As mentioned at my earlier post, Chua’s resigning is indirectly surrendering to the real culprits by approving that privacy invasion (secret recording) is the right thing to do.

No credits to Chua for stepping down and leaving everything behind. It is easy for him to abandon everything now; it would be tougher to stand on his feet and face the crisis instead of giving up so soon, which he should… he chose the easier path.

My hope now is that the people behind the sex DVD could be brought to justice. However, considering the possible political agenda behind the whole scandal… I wonder if the cops would be doing their best to find the culprits.

[Update] – MCA accepts Chua resignation [Malaysiakini]

Some thoughts from other bloggers regarding Chua’s resignation…

The grave sins of Chua Soi Lek
Honesty is such a lonely world
Chua soi lek resigns just about every damn thing
So much smoke, Lulu’s not able to see clearly
Of the only crime here is intrusion of privacy
Was Chua Soi Lek victim of double betrayal?
Chua did the honourable thing (I don’t agree, obviously)