The beginning of a new chapter

Shock win: Pakatan Harapan defied the odds to win the 14th general election and now is the time for the new government to deliver on its promises. — Reuters

THE country’s general election just ended, the victors in jubilant mood and the losers still shell-shocked by the trouncing. The message from Malaysians, cutting across all races, has not merely been clear, but deafening, too.

For the first time in the nation’s history, the people voted single-mindedly. Race and religion, aces up the Barisan Nasional’s sleeve in previous polls, were no longer attractive propositions to the electorate.