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A blogger takes office in Malaysia, screams the headline in Christian Science Monitor, the Boston-based newspaper that has won seven Pulitzer prizes.

In the story, I was quoted as saying that I am uninterested in climbing the party hierarchy. Quote:
"What I find exciting is to experiment with political thinking,” he says. [...]

“The keyboard is mightier than the sword…. Even a blogger can no longer tolerate the quality of governance that the country is having now,” he says.

On the other hand, Ahirudin 'Rocky' Atan, my co-defendant in the lawsuit taken against us by Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan et.al., says he supported my entering politics but believes it has cost me in online credibility, because I might be compromised by party loyalty.

“I think a lot of people feel that Jeff Ooi’s following has diminished because of his direct participation in politics,” he says.

The story is also available on Malaysian Insider.

This blogger's election into the Parliament was mentioned by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his recent National Day Rally Speech on August 18.

The Anwar Comeback... What's next?

Meanwhile, the question that rings in everyone's mind has been this: What's the next step after the Anwar Comeback?

Here are some local voices quoted in Economist.com about how to sustain the “climate of change” among Malaysians:
Tricia Yeoh, of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, a think-tank, says that to maintain it, the opposition leader must urgently press on with forming a credible shadow cabinet, to show that his disparate alliance has the “seriousness and capability” to take on the job of government.

What if UMNO does fall, either through defections in the short term or by losing the next election, and Malaysia gets its first alternation of power? Many institutions of state—especially the police, courts and civil service—are deeply politicised.

But Ong Kian Ming, a political scientist, reckons that most would fall in line if the opposition takes power, as long as Mr Anwar avoids provoking them needlessly. Most big Malaysian businesses, despite their cosiness with the current government, would also prefer an Anwar government to a prolonged period of political instability.

In the meantime the government looks likely to do everything it can to retain power. Except, it still seems, the one thing that might work: showing some tangible progress on the reforms Mr Badawi keeps promising but never provides.

It is probably more likely the sun will rise from the west than will Umno drop its race-based politics. I would think Malaysian taxpayers could easily four more years of economic plunders and corruption should Umno dominance be toppled now via an exodus of BN component parties, rather than just individual legislators.