BN and MIC’s P Kamalanathan had been seen by many Malays as well as Indian voters as an Umno candidate in view of the overwhelming preference given to him over other MIC candidates by the Umno leadership.

It could be a plus point for Umno but not for BN in general, and certainly not for the MIC under its present president .

What was significant is that the Chinese voters had been loyal to Pakatan Rakyat despite a lot of money being thrown in by BN. This could be indicative of the view the Chinese voters have of the new leadership of MCA .

What is more serious is the fact that the young age group vote (below 40) went to Pakatan Rakyat.

They are incorruptible and not amused by promises that there will be changes in the mind-set of BN - particularly Umno - on what the future of Malaysians as a people would be notwithstanding the ‘1Malaysia’ campaign.

Indeed, what happened during the election campaign itself convinced them that the old corrupt ways would prevail.

Corrupt Umnoputra leaders will continue to make their forays into the national kitty and would dictate how and to whom various government contracts and projects should go to.

What Pakatan should do now is to strengthen and marshal their component parties well for the coming battles.