A lot has happened since May 9, 2018, a day when Malaysians decided to alter the political landscape of the country, electing a loosely formed coalition called Pakatan Harapan (PH) into government.

A devastating blow landed on the one time mighty Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition when for the first time in over 60 years, it lost the legitimacy to rule. Never had I thought that this would be possible in my lifetime. What I predicted was for the BN to merely lose a couple of more seats but go on winning the elections as usual.

While the majority of non-Malays were expected to vote for the PH coalition, what surprised me most was the fact that a sizable percentage of Malay electorate had decided to ditch the BN as well. Traditionally, a majority of the Malay population had voted for BN, fearing loss of political power if they did otherwise, a trend which was expected to continue but unfortunately this time it didn’t.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who led the PH coalition, successfully provided the necessary comfort in ensuring that Malay rights and privileges will continue to be protected even if BN was no longer in power. After all, it was Dr Mahathir who had indoctrinated the concept of supremacy during his 22 years of rule as prime minister, previously.

It will be interesting to see if the Malay electorate continues to vote for the PH post-Dr Mahathir’s current leadership, during GE15.

Personally, it was the inability of the former prime minister to offer any reasonable explanation on his alleged involvement in financial scandals which had influenced the end results. It is a little far fetch that the BN did not expect to lose power and even more amazing that the former prime minister was detached from ground realities.

Warning signs were all over the place that the people were disappointed and angry with the BN brand of politics which was plagued by alleged corrupt practices and abuse of power, completely disregarding the principles of transparency, accountability and good governance. The only democratic value left was probably holding the general election on time.

True enough, with the seizure of hundreds of millions in cash and belongings from premises linked to the former PM, public perception on embezzlement is now slowly becoming reality.

Since losing power the BN has been in disarray, desperately trying to recover from the shock election defeat. In such a situation, it does not help when one time allies decide to ditch them in favour of those who have newly acquired power. Effectively, there are only three parties left in the BN coalition now and at this point of writing, it is not even certain if it will stay this way. There are obvious cracks visible even amongst its surviving members.

All is not lost for BN though. In reality, this election defeat should be viewed positively as an opportunity for BN to review its structure and ideology, correcting mistakes of the past and emerging stronger. Being opposition can be useful to test the newly laid foundation which can be continuingly improved until the next general election is called. People will surely appreciate an opposition which roars in Parliament.

Whether we like it or not, Malaysia’s political fundamentals are anchored on race-based power-sharing ideology and thus, race politics will stay and the BN is an established structure to effectively serve that purpose. All the BN needs is to adopt a moderate and inclusive approach moving forward.

The majority will continue to claim rights and privileges, while the minority scream racism. This will not change even if the odds are tilted in any other way as we are a selfish and racist society!

* Darshan Singh reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.