Although the results of the recently held elections in Malaysia do not indicate a radical change in the existing political landscape of Malaysia, at least a strong political message has been conveyed that the hegemony of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is no longer the only characteristic of Malaysian politics. While the BN has been able to form a government on the basis of a 'first past the post' kind of constitutional arrangement, the manner in which the BN has seen a decline in these elections is a sign of a newly emerging political and social mobilization in Malaysia.

The BN could secure only 139 out of the 222 parliamentary seats, as its three important components, the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) could not repeat their performance of the previous elections. They faced a decline in seats respectively from 109 to 79, 31 to 15 and 9 to 3. On the other hand, the main opposition parties, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) secured 28, 31 and 23 seats, as compared to 1, 12 and 7 in the 2004 elections.

The UMNO has a strong base among the ethnic Malay majority and has been in power since Malaysian independence and its poor performance was unprecedented. The two main factors that contributed to this small but significant change in the Malaysian political scenario were first, contrary to the 2004 elections, the Pak-lah factor could not work in favor of BN. Pak-lah is the popular name of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.'Pak' refers to uncle in Malay language and the 'lah' denotes the name Abdullah. During the last elections, Pak-lah (Badawi) was portrayed as Mr. Clean and Mr. Right for Malaysia and his promise of fair governance was the main factor that pulled the votes in favor of the BN. This factor was absent in the recent elections because the coalition could not fulfill its promise of good governance made during the previous elections. This situation provided an edge to the PKR for gaining political ground.

The other factor that led the BN towards an outstanding performance in 2004 was the moderate image of BN in comparison to the PAS that campaigned for a theocratic state. However, this time, the grievances of ethnic Indians and the anti-government movement led by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) set the stage on which the votes of ethnic Indians and to an extent of ethnic Chinese also drifted towards the opposition parties. As a result, the MCA and MIC, which were supported by the ethnic minorities in the last elections, could not repeat their performance.

However, after the elections, the following question arises - to what extent do these results significantly shape Malaysian politics? Despite the rise of the PKR, a majority of Malays is still with the UMNO, which is an ethnic Malay party and a strong advocate of the discriminatory Bumiputera, or 'sons of the soil,' policy. Thus, it would be too early to say that the results of these elections indicate the decline of Malay majoritarianism as a determining factor of Malaysian politics.

However, as far as the ethnic Indian minority is concerned, it has shown the courage to look beyond the MIC in these elections. The fall of MIC and the defeat of Samy Vellu, its president, indicate that this party is no longer the sole representative of Indian interests. The ethnic Indians have been expecting for long that the MIC would take care of their interests. However, the MIC has proved highly inefficient in articulating the genuine demands of ethnic Indians and worked as the party of an elite that benefits from political opportunism. As a result, disappointed Indians gave a chance to the opposition parties to decide their political fate. There is a sign of emergence of a new set of Indian leadership from the PKR- and DAP-supported candidates.

Interestingly, the major setback to the UMNO has come from urban and ethnically mixed constituencies while the rural constituencies, where the Malays are in a majority and still remain the UMNO's stronghold. It is quite likely that if the UMNO learns from its previous mistakes and addresses the major grievances of the urban electorate, the party would be able to regain its lost constituencies. Though the opposition coalition of the PKR, PAS and DAP has shown great consolidation within itself, its success in the future would depend on how these three parties with their discrete political vision and interests will be successful in building a consensus over conflicting issues, such as the imposition of Sharia law and the Bumiputera policy

The bottom line is that the results of the elections definitely proved that Malaysian politics is not being played in the UMNO's backyard and that it also has an evolving pluralistic characteristic. However, the nature and direction of Malaysian politics will depend on the extent to which the UMNO learns from its mistakes and how successfully the opposition manipulates the mandate it has obtained.