Last night began with a wave of polling results: A slew of numbers came crashing in, and the public slowly began to realize that not only was any victory for Barisan Nasional (BN) going to be close, the opposition actually had a real chance to win.
But as the results slowed to a trickle — slower than a single tear running down a former prime minister’s cheek — television analysts that had gathered to follow the night’s proceedings began running out of fodder to talk about.
And then it happened. Finally, FINALLY, one man let loose.
Was it the realization that BN’s victory, and its subsequent control of the press, seemed less likely by that point than a snowball in Bukit Bintang, or was it sheer frustration? We have no idea, but we saw it live, and it was bloody delightful.
Karim Raslan, who had been part of a panel on cable news net Astro Awani, took a swipe at Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah, who was delivering polling results at a snail’s pace.
“What are you doing? You should just resign. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of there. You have done the most shameful thing, you have let us all down (and) the people of Malaysia,” he boldly cried.
WELL, HOT DAMN! And he wasn’t finished.
“We’ve all been waiting for you to make these announcements and there are 47 seats to come. And what is going on in Sabah? We’ve been asking this. How is it that Sarawak, this enormous state, the head of the SPR, could have sorted it all out.”
This was in response to Sabah’s neighboring state in Borneo delivering their results in a timely manner that had most of the seats called before dinner yesterday.
“That guy, who is the head of the SPR of Sarawak, should be running the country’s SPR.
“This is despicable, absolutely appalling, and what I would like to know is that what are the pressures behind you? Who’s whispering in your ears?
“This is the kind of ridiculous rubbish that we have to see the end of today.
“Everyone one agrees, ya? Rubbish! This kind of manipulation going behind the scenes.
“Just tell it straight. We are a very mature, sensible people; we’ll just move on,” he said.
Holy smokes THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN. OH WAIT, IT DID AND IT’S ON THE INTERNET.
Is this a sign of the kind of talk we can expect from our on-air analysts under a new regime? Candor? Honesty? Less filter, more hard truths?
We hope so. Stay tuned.
