Post election euphoria

I cannot resist saying a few things about the elections in Malaysia in which the ruling coalition BARISAN won the right to form the federal government again but lost a large number of seats. It also lost control of 5 of the state governments. Right up to the eve of the elections, I was getting email and sms messages from people to vote for the opposition. I only got one message to vote for the BARISAN. There were legions of passionate supporters of the opposition, only a few lukewarm supporters of BARISAN. The BARISAN could not inspire volunteers to its cause. All its supporters expected to be paid, either up front or later in the form of rewards. On TV and in the streets, those who spoke for the opposition were more coherent, more intelligent and more convincing than those who spoke for the government. BARISAN lost the young, the intelligent and the passionate.