Malaysia's 13th general elections took place the same year that the country celebrated its 50th anniversary as a confederation formed through the combining of the Federation of Malaya with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (Singapore left after two years). This is significant for several reasons.

The election results saw the long-term ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, staying in power thanks to the support it received from the largely rural East Malaysian states. This increased reliance by the federal government on Sabah and Sarawak had been obvious already in the 2008 elections, but this time around it avoided an excruciating loss of power thanks to them.

The political, demographic, socio-economic and ethnic structure of Sabah and Sarawak is extremely different from that found in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, the new balance of power forces the central government to give increasing consideration – and respect – to the East Malaysians and the special conditions they live under. Their representation in Cabinet is higher than ever before, and their ability to raise demands on the federal budget is also greatly increased.

That is one significant and rather obvious change. Another is the fact that their raised status in the power calculus of the country will over time have great impact on the basic and greatly simplified concepts concerning ethnicity and religion, which have defined political discourses for decades.

This is borne out by the realization among opposition parties – which won the popular vote but failed to take power due to the distorted nature of the electoral system – that they cannot really dislodge the BN unless they advance from the comfort of their urban strongholds and seriously restrategise in order to become relevant to rural folk and to voters in Sabah and Sarawak.

To me, this is one of the most important of the new scenarios to consider as Malaysian politics struggles to make the two-party system that has recently come into being in the country credible and sustainable.