Either through sheer ignorance or arrogance, whichever it is, I let you be the judge if Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was instrumental in ‘swinging’ a considerable number of votes away from the Barisan Nasional and himself. Consider the below.

Turning aggressively on the people who went to see him in peace to voice their legitimate grievances, which one of his key lieutenants S Samy Vellu never did (and which was confirmed by the former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself).

His aloofness in not answering so many problems that arose during his tenure of office, and his seemingly couldn't care less attitude regarding the same.

The Lingam tape scandal and the limited scope of the royal commission inquiry which was viewed by all Malaysians as a very important case.

The exposure of the way the ACA works as was discovered during the Lingam tape inquiry.

The inability to take advantage of a situation to rectify wrongs. He should have received the second delegation from Hindraf who went to him with flowers. It would have done him a world of good.

His frequent absence from the country with people are wondering if he fancies living in Australia.

And what about the Nazri Abdul Aziz factor? If there is one person who gave the opposition as much mileage as Anwar Ibrahim did, it must be Nazri with his constant statements which undermined the intelligence of the rakyat .

He was instrumental in making more and more people hate the BN. The opposition has a lot to be thankful to Nazri for as his arrogance uncultured behaviour made him the person all Malaysians loved to hate.

A trade unionist will tell you that they hate the term ‘management prerogatives’ and the rakyat will tell you that they hate a government which tells them, ‘We can do this because the people have given us the mandate.’ I think this is something all politicians must take account of - our mandate is no blank cheque.

The ‘Istana Zakaria’ built, the forests that Malaysians have lost, the women that have gone missing, the children who are missing, the corrupt police force are all part and parcel of this blame and last but not the least, the attorney-general, and the Election Commission.