Now Mahathir must heed Malaysians’ wish for change – by protecting the rule of law, for a start

Andrew Sheng says there is a clear trend of urban voters moving away from religion-based politics to vote for improvements in economic livelihood. To safeguard his legacy, Mahathir must manage a generational change in Malaysian politics

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Newly-elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (centre) addresses the media in Kuala Lumpur on May 11. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:15pm, 11 May 2018Updated: 7:48pm, 11 May 2018

Most Malaysians like myself went to bed in the early hours of Thursday morning after hearing the news that the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition of four parties had won a simple majority of the 222 parliamentary seats contested in the general election. It was earth-shattering news that the Barisan Nasional government that had ruled Malaysia for 61 years is now the opposition.

Ninety-two-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad has just been sworn in as the seventh prime minister of Malaysia, after having served 22 years as the fourth prime minister, from 1981 to 2003. In 2016, he quit the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the leading component of the Barisan government, to form his own party, aligning himself with the opposition.

The election itself was orderly and surprisingly quiet, since there were few of the usual rumbustious rallies that featured in past elections. The Malaysian electorate has become more mature – cautious, yet bold in voting for change.

There will now be a period of political crossovers in which each party tries to bolster its majority at the parliamentary and state levels. The aftershocks of the election are not over by any means.

In addition to the rejection of the past government, on issues that included the 1MDB scandal, three key trends can be discerned from this year’s election.