We must compliment Pak Lah for his resounding victory. It is our mandate of trust, hope and confidence in him and to a lesser degree, the Barisan Nasional (BN).

Pak Lah has given us Malaysians, regardless of our racial and religious backgrounds, his commitment that he is going to safeguard the basic framework of democracy in this country and that the nation would be steered towards becoming a more warm, equitable and caring place for us all to really call home.

We were also promised that the country would be successfully steered to its rightful destination in the evolving global economy .

Our hope was clearly visible on our faces as we voted firstly for Pak Lah and secondly, or by default for some, the Barisan Nasional. This has been testified by the overall voting pattern that showed we were less racial in casting our votes this time around.

The younger age group appears to have been even less racial and just looked at the political parties and the result that the candidates could bring them. The BN happens to be the only package available. The opposition as a team, represented by the Barisan Alternatif (BA), disintegrated even before the election started.

Sunday demonstrated that the Malays are a very moderate people. They do not like extremes, especially those that will create problems and disharmony. They are enlightened Muslims that subscribe to the true virtues of being fair and balanced in whatever they do.

They subscribe to the golden median. They will therefore continue be the stabilising factor in a multi-racial Malaysian society .This is consistent with the well-known Koranic injunction that says: "I created mankind into races, colours and creed in order that you appreciate each other's differences".

As regards the crippling losses of PAS, it is a punishment for being arrogant and overzealous. PAS as a political party has been overselling Islamic ideology, something they have learnt to parrot fashion for far too long. To young voters, this is a very boring commercial desperately in search of a product.

The decimation of the opposition was also due to a lack of meaningful issues at the time when the economy has fully recovered from recession with both macro-economic numbers and corporate results to shout it out.

I would testify that it was for the love of Pak Lah and not for the missing hatred of Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysian voters have given their votes to BN. The views of some analysts that it was the absence of Mahathir that swayed voters is not true at all, especially since the younger voters are most proud of him.

The Anwar Ibrahim factor appears to be fading away very fast with Anwar himself appearing more like a political mis-adventurer than a martyr.

As regards the votes given to DAP, it was not purely due to the non-Malay factor alone, for a very significant number of their voters included the Malays. It was their love for the nation and to uphold the credibility of our democratic governance. We were hoping for at least a 15 percent opposition representation in the parliament but this is not to be.

We know that Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Sing will be singing their the same 'classic hits' in parliament but at least it will keep the rest awake and very much on their toes.

We need not have to re-emphasise the heavy responsibilities Pak Lah has in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the people. Perhaps a nicely bound copy of the letters and articles from malaysiakini needs to be given to our new prime minister for his reading .

Kit Siang, Karpal and his band of followers have the unenviable task of keeping alive the democratic mechanisms of checks and balances. They must not themselves fall asleep while singing their classical songs.

Pak Lah also needs to be a better listener than any of his predecessors to really live up to his own promises to us.

All said and done, we may conclude that apart from hiccups by the Election Commission, this is the best election result so far from the perspective of Malaysia as a multi-racial country that is maturing and shaping its own self-image and identity following a serious economic crisis .

Well done and good luck to all of us.