“Someone asked me... how it felt and I was reminded of a story that a fellow townsman of ours used to tell Abraham Lincoln. They asked him how he felt once after an unsuccessful election. He said he felt like a little boy who had stubbed his toe in the dark. He said that he was too old to cry, but it hurt too much to laugh.” - Adlai E Stevenson II

To be honest I was not paying too much attention to the Sarawak state elections. I know it makes good copy and for a regime beset by scandals, it was supposed to be some sort of bellwether for how Umno would fare, but besides Bridget Welsh’s excellent series of articles, the punditry was mundane and the conclusion obvious.

The issues facing the average Sarawakian (well, there is no average Sarawakian) are far removed from the preoccupations of urban East Malaysians, which dominate the political discourse but do not reflect the reality on the ground. The only tsunamis in Sarawak or Sabah for that matter in the foreseeable future are the literal ones, which destroy more than just political aspirations.