2013 Malaysia Elections

Touted as the most tightly contested elections yet, tomorrow could be a new dawn in the history of Malaysia.

I know all my cousins living there want change and have grown tired of riddling crime, corruption, inefficiency and lack of transparency that the current administration is well known for. And you can bet the Chinese and Indian votes will almost surely go to the opposition after years of feeling marginalized and to some extent, even oppressed.

As of today I read in the Jakarta Post that the opposition has a slight lead and I'm not surprised. Even the Malay voters, especially the younger generation, frown upon the archaic Bumiputra policies.

Even Singapore-bashing, or trying to win the Malay votes by comparing Malaysian Malays with Singaporean Malays don't cut it any longer because our Singaporean counterparts have excelled so much further with our meritocratic policies. So much so even Singaporean Malays these days like to make clear that they are different. Economically, psychologically and financially, they are doing better, with nothing more obvious than the huge appetite for foreign property across the border in recent years.

And yet, I want the BN to win.

That's because a BN win will be a win for Singapore from an economic standpoint. Here are the reasons:

1) Najib's Pro-Singapore Stance
Let's admit it. From Pedra Branca, to our Tanjong Pagar Malayan Railway land issue, to water policies and normal rhetoric. No other Malaysian leader has been friendlier and more accommodating with solving bilateral issues than this guy. Sure we threw truckloads of money at them, but there were some things that all the money in the world previously couldn't buy back, and now we have (the land issue).

2) Iskandar And M+S
Another of Jib-kor's brilliant ideas. I've never really been for pouring investment money into our northern neighbours, but the whole Iskandar project has seriously broken glass ceilings in terms of co-orporation our two countries were capable of. It feels almost like we bought a huge swath of land to compliment a Singaporean Malaysia, much like Bintan Resorts in Bintan, Indonesia. M+S was the idea proposed in exchange for returning our land to us. 49% owned by Temasek and 51% owned by Khazanah, they will control investment of development on those parcels of land returned. A brilliant compromise where we nipped the winning edge.

3) Stability
Unrest if Anwar wins. Nuff said.

So I guess we will find out he result tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

Stay tuned.