Studies attribute such voter behaviour to “negativity bias”. Sort of damned if the party does, and damned if it doesn’t. A report published by Pusat Komas in 2020 shows this paradox.

Pakatan Harapan, for example, did deliver on some of its reformasi pledges outlined in its Buku Harapan, which raises a moot point – could Harapan have done more if it had served a full five-year term?

I have read the pledges by Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional and Harapan. Generally, same old promises were re-worded to read like new intentions.

Are we condemned to see more of the same ineffective leadership in a minority government? Depressingly so when the field is littered with party candidates whose policy position is as unclear as their public service is unproven.

Here, for its practical relevance to our voting for a new generation of progressive leaders, I quote at length from a book titled “Lee Kuan Yew – The Grand Masters’ Insights on China, the United States and the World (2013)”, published two years before Lee’s death at age 91.

Four years before Singapore separated from Malaysia, Lee said at the second meeting of the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee meeting in 1961, “The test of leadership lies not merely in echoing fears and doubts, especially when these fears and doubts, however real, are capable of solution...

“As leaders of our various communities, we recognise the existence of these anxieties, but we have to take the lead in exorcising them … (and) lead in public thinking.

Kilimanjaro : To say the truth and which essentially means saying the obvious will invite such a backlash that no one dares to probe or dwell on the subject. Rather it will seem more like a comfort zone that has been patronised. All is not lost.

Who in the world would have ever imagined that Mahathir, of all persons, would come out to say that the Heads of all the important agencies, including that of the MACC and the AG, will have to be screened and selected by a parliamentary committee instead of the present where the PM chooses the final candidate and then advices the Agong accordingly. BN Chief Zahid announced in the BN manifesto along the same lines.

Perhaps the dawn of the futility of hanging on to the present way of doing things had invitedthe wrath of the people. Not surprisingly, it then appears all these parties are falling into line with what PH has been preaching and subscribing to all these years. What Azam Baki, the current MACC Chief commented that such a process may deny the MACC its independence has be totally ignored.

The "revolt" against the "privileged" Malays will certainly come from the Malays themselves. No amount of pushing this button by the NM will have much traction but this topic has gained momentum in recent years. It can be said that indeed it has caught fire and that has the "elite" Malays worried. The Parisian Bastille spirit is seen to have taken on a meaning and role that have set the tongues wagging.

Armed with knowledge and the power of their votes, more youths will move to the centre and would regard those who have gained at their expense with contempt. Although the strong currents are yet to come, the path of the tsunami has already been defined and more tsunamis will further redefine the illogical, inappropriate and unsustainable policies that have been at the heart of the problems they and the country are facing.

I am fairly convinced that this may even happen during my lifetime. It knocks into their sense that major policies that are supposed to elevate them has been awfully and distressfully diverted for the benefit of a few who are politically inclined to sustain such a system to enable them to continue it to their advantage.

I had once feared that we may become another Iran. That now seems misguided. Though Arabisation has taken some root, it is not going to be the main bedrock of Malaysians. Indeed signs are visible on moving to the centre. Those on either the extreme right or the left will be left in the fringes to frown and drown.

We thought GE14 will be the fight of the century. Those who resorted to the Sheraton unwittingly paved the way for the country to re-emerge from the dark clouds that hang over all of us. For the first time in my memory, UMNO has refrained from the racial baits it is used to. Tok Mat was "hated" for his racial and religious overtnes during by-elections but today he has a lot of good things to say about the Chinese and Indians.

Realites bite and sometimes it can bite hard. The jaws that bedevilled them had woken them up after being handed over defeats that shook up UMNO. Let us hope that GE15 will continue to reinforce the tenets of what a true Malaysia should be. Those who dare to depart from this core and central value will not just get smacked but may face the unceremonial obliteration.

RedWolf4463 : In short, Singapore is today what Malaysia could have been but is not. Singapore through its Chinese leadership seeks to build itself, whereas Malaysia through its Malay leadership seeks to destroy itself. Singapore is the antithesis of Malaysia. The magnet for Malaysian talent and skills. Malaysia has become the hinterland whereas Singapore is the hub.

BisingSahaja123 : Forget history, this time around things are different. It is Singapore blessing separating from Malaysia, and safely to say it was not by chance but by choice.

The government of yesterday and today have the mindset of superiority over the minority just because they are somebody in this land, and forgetting that everyone has an equal and responsibility for the wellbeing of this country.

Leader's day of lies and cheats are now out in the open. Past generation are more forgiving because it does not deprive them of their living even if leaders made mistake. But today leaders rob this generation of their future and cause more harm not just the individual but the whole Nation.

No wonder Malaysia fate is ruin due to their own making. Singapore can very well be who she is (some idiot from UMNO once said Singapore could be better if UMNO run the country, I almost fell off my chair listening to this stupidity)