The Barisan Nasional is home and dry in last week's general election, returned to office with more seats than the old parliament had, affirmed the electoral legitimacy of its new leader, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, shaking off at the same time any influence his predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had had on him in his first five months as prime minister.

He literally decimated the opposition in the new parliament, reclaimed the Malay heartland, sidelined the Islamist opposition, took the looming political battle over Islamic supremacy in Malaysia out of parliamentary overview while shutting out non-Malay involvement in it.

He shook the opposition PAS to the bone, routing it in Terengganu, badly dented its control of Kelantan; reduced the multiracial Keadilan into a crisis from which it could take years to recover; with the DAP its main opposition in parliament and a PAS all but voiceless, that on first sight justifies the euphoric sentiment of the Malaysian and foreign press and market sentiment.

If he had this result five years earlier, his victory would have been the sweeter. Not this year

The Election Commission, in its eagerness to see the BN in power, went out of its way to break the law and its electoral operating rules, amongst others, to extend the voting hours in Selangor by two hours when it seemed certain the BN and the PAS-led opposition were neck-to-neck.