After having to put up with years of rather nauseating and apple-polishing rhetoric from the Barisan National, the real democratic-minded people of Malaysia and particularly Sarawak have something marvelous to celebrate.

Against all possible odds the DAP has won six seats in Sarawak and completely decimated the incumbent government in the Kuching area.

Still the Barisan politicians are talking about 'landslide' and 'new mandate' but the real truth behind the just concluded state elections in Sarawak is that the opposition parties, and particularly the DAP, have won the landslide and not the Barisan.

The DAP has won nearly 10 percent of the seats in the state legislature and this is in the face of an almost complete government block on their access to the media, blatant bribing of voters and the unspoken but ever present threat of retaliation against those constituencies, villages and towns that dare to vote against the ruling coalition.

If it had truly been a fair and democratic election then there is no doubt that the Barisan would have been deservedly turfed out of office and maybe many of its members brought to book for their corrupt practices of past years.

This is a great victory for the democratic aspirations of the people of Malaysia and hopefully will herald a dramatic shift away from the money politics and incipient corruption that has plagued Malaysia and Sarawak since Merdeka.

It must be particularly heartening for Lim Kit Siang and other DAP stalwarts who for years have championed the rights of the downtrodden and oppressed. Hopefully they will be motivated to carry on their long and brave fight to install a real and not 'pretend democracy' in Malaysia.

We now look forward to some real fireworks in the state assembly sittings in Sarawak and hopefully the decrepit and ageing leader of the Barisan in Sarawak will fade away quickly to allow younger, more honest and 'crony-less' leaders to take over soon.