As widely predicted by everyone, Japan has voted in a new government after 50 years of LDP.
Japanese wake up today to see the DPJ in charge.
Out with the LDP, which people are tired of.
The Democratic Party of Japan won 308 of 480 seats in the lower house elections.
Malaysia also has its lower house (Parliament) and upper house (Senate).
This guy - see picture here - will be the new Japanese Prime Minister. Let's get to know his name first - Yukio Hatoyama.
Nampak orang muda berbanding dengan yang tua-tua PM lama. Baguslah tu. Lebih semangat.
TETAPI sebenarnya berumur 62 tahun! - Umur bersara di Singapore!
Bapanya ialah orang yang memulakan syarikat gergasi tayar, Bridgestone. Adoi, anak orang kaya. Profil Hatoyama-san di sini.
Unlike the Liberal Democratic Party which is full of factions and kept changing PMs (it changed four PMs in the last four years! That was part of the reason also why people got fed up), DPJ is so strong he could last quite long, it is said.
My big hope for all of us in Southeast Asia - is that Japan will become more confident and its economy, still the second biggest in the world after the Americans', will grow strongly again after like 15 years of being half-asleep.
Jika depa ni masa musim dia tidur boleh bawa kepada dunia Sony dan Toyota, Nintendo dan Toshiba, Canon dan sushi, Doraemon dan Pokemon, bayangkan jika ekonomi dia kuat!
And in Malaysia, Happy 52nd Birthday.
Although, as we all know, there is a big sense of disquiet on the ground. Nothing much, really, to celebrate about.
Not just among the Chinese and Indians who are pushing for their rights (as they should) after being denied for so long, but as I wrote here, among the Malays.
There is big unease in Melayudom that the other races are pushing too strongly at the gates for their rights in Tanah Melayu. As reflected also by the much-loved sakmongkol AK47 .
The problem is how to manage this without the "bridges", as PM Najib Razak said last night, being broken.
Everyone knows that they should continue to share the country, because the alternative is very bad. Very ugly.
Najib said in his speech that issues are now exploited for political gains - you can see that clearly whether in Kampung Buah Pala (where it became a racial issue, no thanks to Hindraf) and the cow-head parade in Seksyen 23 Shah Alam).
Worries about the country being torn apart, and that both the opposition and the government should work together was one key reason why PM Najib met with Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar in July, I was told.
There is such a thing as bi-partisanship, ie there should be issues where whether you are Government or Opposition, you should step back from playing politics and work for the good of the country.
Like no more huge street demos that disrupt the flow of goods (I wrote about Malaysia's weak economy and how exports could be disrupted here). Nak demo masuk stadium lah, bukan tak boleh. For the sake of the country.
And of course, the government agencies have also to show evenhandedness to control emotions. The police's excuse on why it didn't stop the cow-head parade was disgraceful.
Dah 52 tahun Abang dan Datin, bila nak taubat?
Nak kasi hancur negeri ke?
Seriously, I don't think there is a sense of realisation among politicians of both stripes that they should play less politics and see the big-picture of trying to heal the wounds from the fight since general elections in March 2008.
Umno-BN want to fight to stay in power at all costs, Anwar and Pakatan want to come to power at all costs. Hancur.
I weep for my adopted country.
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