SURPRISED by the results of the 13th general election? Not me. I had expected it to be something like this since the 2008 tsunami.

The results of the May 5 polls are now regarded as a “china-mi” based on the overwhelming Chinese support for Pakatan Rakyat, notably for the DAP.

In reality, it is much more than that. There is also a significant shift away from Barisan Nasional from all races in the urban areas, especially among younger voters who rely mostly on social media to communicate.

We have ended up as a highly divided nation, much like the “blue” and “red” belts of the United States.

In our case, the divide is mostly urban and largely Chinese voters versus mostly Malay voters in the rural heartlands of peninsular Malaysia and the ethnic communities in Sabah and Sarawak.

Against the confidence of many of my Chinese friends who were certain that the slogans of “Ubah” and “Ini kali lah!” would prevail, I had expected Barisan to win, albeit narrowly.

The reasoning was simple. The more the Chinese community appeared to be against Umno, the backbone of the ruling coalition, the more Malays would rally behind it to ensure its strength and survival. It is not a question of racism but one of stark political reality.

At the cost of many strained friendships, I maintained the stand, more so when their dislike morphed into outright hate and contempt.

One obvious miscalculation on their part was their misreading of the 2008 polls results.

The biggest cause for Pakatan’s big gains then was not the usual issues of corruption, governance and abuse of power but Malay unhappiness with the then leadership of the country.

There was much hope for the future when Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over the reins from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He won the biggest ever majority for Barisan in the 2004 polls.

Even my hometown constituency of Kota Melaka, which the DAP had kept since 1969, fell to Barisan.

But four years later, it all came down to nothing.

Even members of Umno voted against Barisan, contributing to the March 8, 2008 tsunami.

Another key factor was the Indian mutiny in the wake of the momentous Hindraf rally on Nov 25, 2007.

The logic behind the faith of “Ini kali lah” was understandable. If the Indians, a small minority, can make such a huge dent in the political equation, shouldn’t a community that is stronger in numbers and economic clout do much better?

As we found out, it doesn’t always work that way. But the results of May 5 are not too bad for the rival coalitions.

Barisan retained power with 133 parliamentary seats – seven less than in 2008. It failed to wrest Selangor, Penang and Kelantan but has retaken Kedah and kept Perak.

Pakatan lost Putrajaya but clearly won the votes of urbanites, including the Malays, strengthened its hold on Selangor and made impressive inroads into Barisan’s once strong fortress of Johor.

More significantly, it clearly edged Barisan in winning the popular vote, once again highlighting the gross unfairness in the weightage for rural constituencies against the reality of Malaysia’s current urban-rural ratio.

Why must a vote in the supposedly rural constituency be more than five times higher than an urban one? And why do 60% of constituencies come under “rural” classification when only 40% of land is deemed to be rural?

We can safely bet that gerrymandering of seats would be one of the key issues of the next general election.

For Malaysians hoping for a better future, the results of May 5 signify that there would be better checks and balance in the governance of the country.

But, it could also mean another five years of bitter politicking, rising racial tensions and the spewing of partisan hate in cyberspace and on social media.

Two candidates associated with racism were defeated but let’s not pretend that Malaysians have transcended race-based politics.

The results of the polls show the perilous extent of how polarised we have become as a nation.

Reconciliation is the only way out. Political leaders on both sides must accept the reality of what the people want, based on how they voted.

Instead of continuing to pursue the usual zero-sum games and personal ambitions, they must make compromises in the larger interest of the country.

After the racially divisive 1969 elections which resulted in the tragic May 13 racial riots, many of our parents and grandparents feared that it would be the end of Malaysia as a multi-racial nation.

But this was healed four years later by the conciliation shown by the political leaders then, especially Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the father of the current Prime Minister. He created Barisan as a national unity coalition by bringing in the then major opposition parties of SUPP, Gerakan, PAS and PPP.

This may provide guidelines for today’s reconciliation. There must be recognition that the country has changed along with the rules of political engagement.

The racial and urban-rural rift would never be bridged if the game is going to be played in the same old way.

> Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan has seen too many examples of Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation: In politics, shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.

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