I was as surprised as everyone else by the fall of the four Kuching state seats into opposition hands in the recent Sarawak election. After all, I stood nine times in those seats and fought against the mighty SUPP. The collapse of Goliath must have delighted many Davids. As one friend told me over the telephone, the air over Kuching is now cleaner.

My earlier prediction has proven to be wrong. The Chinese were restless, instead of the natives.

After the fact, people will wonder why there was this sudden swing of Chinese votes for the opposition, in Kuching in particular and in Sarawak in general. Surely it cannot be the charisma or the reputation of the candidates only, since many opposition faces were relatively new to voters.

There are some obvious factors that most people can agree on.