This is really BIG, everyone's still yapping about it

This is really BIG, everyone's still yapping about it
ELECTION 2008, after 1 month: With Jerome Martin

APRIL 8 — You know something big happened, when you're talking about it a month later. And we're not talking about something that crops up in conversation when you've run out of witty things to say, like Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood, or Javier Mascherano's sending off in the Man Utd vs Liverpool game.

We're talking about stuff like the first time Formula One cars came to Malaysia. Or the tragedies of 9/11 and the 2004 Tsunami or American Idol.

A month, or even months, after these events occurred, they were still No.1 on the agenda. Everyone was talking about it.

Everyone.

Whether it's at high-level government meetings, newsrooms, boardrooms, coffeeshops or bars, you couldn't not talk at length about these things. It'd have been inhuman not to try to understand how these things could happen – world's fastest racecars in our backyard, planes crashing into buildings, waves leveling whole cities and Clay Aiken not being gay.

In fact, it's the coffeeshops, bars, pubs, restaurants, cafes and delis who have seen a fair amount of action in the month since the stunning March 8 election results flooded across the country. Maybe people are rushing down to celebrate endlessly – as Malaysians, no real celebration can take place without food and drink – or we might simply be reacting very naturally to such a shocking event by descending upon these meeting places to converse with others and make some sense of what transpired 31 days ago.

Like the proverbial dam that was broken, the elation that washed over many of us was unparalleled. Not necessarily because we have rocked the vote, or pressed back an oppressive junta or that we've voted in the Oppo... sorry, Pakatan Rakyat in five states. But simply because we're feeling empowered.

You could call the dining patterns a sign of people power – or at least the version the hippies taught us – as corporates are running scared while the peasants rejoice.

Hotels like Shangri-La KL and restaurant groups like the Oriental Group have seen takings decline in the period following the elections as the significant business crowd who splurge to make an impression have been tightening their expense accounts in anticipation of the country undergoing some kind of unrest.

Meanwhile, folks like you and me have been going silly. More casual or family-oriented FnB outlets like those operated by the Delicious group have seen revenue move in an upward trend. Smalltime proprietors of similarly middle-class joints have seen the pre-Chinese New Year slump halted, if not quite reversed.

Maybe we're enjoying the feel-good factor while it lasts. Or maybe it's the "End of the World" syndrome, so let's party like it's 1999.

Whatever. What's important is that the seemingly impenetrable cloak of fear and trepidation that followed our first show of indignation in 1969 seems to have been ripped apart like so many spoiled ballots.

This is as much relief as it is joy and pride as we've finally shaken off the post-May 13 mistrust that was further reinforced under the stern command of Tun Dr Mahathir.

We, the people, are free to choose. The insanity of it is that just five weeks ago, such a fundamental democratic statement as that would've been greeted with no small number of cynical snorts.

In hindsight, that sense of being weak and powerless should've been numbered amongst nasi lemak and corruption as part and parcel of the common Malaysian way of life. Depending on what trained nutritionist Datuk Liow Tiong Lai decides to do as the new health minister, we might find ourselves rid of all three of the above.