At the dawn of yet another General Election

For the first time in the history of our General Elections... ROS's decision not to recognise the DAP's office bearers means that no one can authorise its candidates to use the party's recognisable Rocket logo.... This, a technical glitch which happened last December, which at that time didn't seem a problem but became one just before naming of the candidates.

And so, DAP will contest under PAS logo in Peninsular and PKR logo in Sabah and Sarawak. Perhaps this might be a new dawn for Malaysian politics. Dato Onn (who could have been the founding father of Malaya) was way ahead of his time when he proposed opening UMNO to non Malays. He was ahead of his time in promoting what would have been known as 1Malaya back then... all races under one single party. We would probably be a different nation today... in all probability, a more dynamic one. 

But Malaya was not ready... He left UMNO. But his IMP floundered and was forgotten. But perhaps, even with this action with this really odd timing from ROS on DAP, might be a new dawn for Malaysia, ushering in perhaps a single identity for Malaysians.

We are way too divided along racial lines. We frowned upon apartheid, we used to join the chorus of voices condemning South Africa. Yet many of our own practices are also questionable. Quotas based on race, in education, business, civil service... and some of these quotas have actually decapitated our abilities to compete with the rest of the world. We have created instant millionaires but not been very successful in raising our ability to stand out. One just needs to compare ourselves with Singapore and Korea, and perhaps even Taiwan to see the difference. These were countries who were behind us in per capita income in the 1950s. Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia. And today, it is among the richest country in the world. What went wrong with us?

Many are beginning to stock up for fear that there might be unrest. The ghosts of 513 have yet been laid to rest. But perhaps too here, we might be heralding a new dawn.. because Malaysians today are better informed... thanks to the Internet. Change is necessary for a better tomorrow. Change is needed for our next generations.

The 13th GE.... it should be an interesting one. For one, MCA has become irrelevant. So has MIC... Together with UMNO they formed BN. And together, they have been practising politics along racial lines... The British divided us to rule us. I think BN style of politics works almost the same way. We have always been a divided nation... the leaders we elected made sure we remain suspicious of each other. A new dawn is needed....

And perhaps this new dawn will bring with it a new openness....