— The Malaysian Insider
May 23, 2013

MAY 23 — Now that the dust has settled after GE13 and the Malaysian Cabinet has been named, it is time to test the pulse in the country and figure out what has changed and what has not changed.

What has changed?

● Umno and Barisan Nasional’s armour of invincibility and sense of confidence

Nothing punctures confidence and self-belief than the fact that most voters gave their support to Pakatan Rakyat. The official spin is that the Chinese betrayed BN but that party line suits a national leadership looking to absolve itself from any blame. Fact is that many Malaysians were unwilling to trade their precious vote for temporary gratification.

● Fear factor gone forever
There was a time when a police threat or a warning about a repeat of May 13 would have kept Malaysians indoors. Not anymore, it seems.

Thousands have defied threats to attend post-election rallies in Selangor, Penang, Johor, Kedah and have done so in an orderly manner. In fact, participants of different races have come away from these gatherings feeling as one.

● Media landscape

Utusan Malaysia. News Straits Times. The Star. TV3. They all don’t get it. Skewed news, lies, do not cut ice with a population which gets its news and information from various sources.

Block out Anwar Ibrahim on mainstream media. No worries, there is always YouTube. Block YouTube. No worries, there is Facebook.

What has not changed?
● Tunku Aziz, Chandra Muzaffar, S. Nallakaruppan

The less said about this trio and their ilk the better.

● The home minister

Be careful what you wish for. Could anyone imagine anyone sounding more combative and ridiculous at the same time than Hishammuddin Hussein?

And yet given the evidence of the past few days, Zahid Hamidi could “surpass” Hishammuddin. Threats against an online journalist, a childish outburst urging Malaysians who seek a new electoral system to emigrate and a primary school bully act suggest that Zahid is more interested is auditioning for Umno polls and scoring points with the right-wing folk.

● When everything else fails, go to the old playbook
Mahathirism is not dead. Today’s crackdown on the opposition and the raiding of Harakah’s office and the tenor of police action suggest that someone is going to the old playbook of Mahathir Mohamad.

Strike fear into the hearts of everyone and “order will be restored.” May have been effective a few decades ago but it is questionable if the sledgehammer approach works. Still, the crackdown will probably be popular within Umno.