In November last year, during the 1999 Tenth General Elections, Mahathir warned the Chinese that if they voted for the opposition, like they did in 1969, they would run the risk of another May 13 - that is, a racial riot.

That "warning" was enough to "discourage" the Chinese from supporting the opposition and Mahathir's National Front managed to retain its two-thirds majority in Parliament, though it lost the two Malay majority states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

Immediately after the elections, Mahathir praised the Chinese for being practical and pragmatic and the Malays of being too emotional. In short, the Chinese use their heads while the Malays use their hearts.

In the past, the Chinese had always been supporters of the opposition while the Malays were pro-government. Of late, however, the roles have been reversed.

Then Mahathir realised that, since the Malays no longer support UMNO, and the National Front retained power through Chinese support, how could UMNO claim it was the legitimate party representing the Malays?

That's when Mahathir tried to win back Malay support. And he did this by letting UMNO Youth loose on the Chinese in August this year.

The trick failed though and, in his Independence Day speech, Mahathir again attacked the Chinese and called them "Communists out to destroy the country".

The Malays were not impressed. It did not bring the Malays scurrying back to UMNO. Instead it just antagonised the Chinese.

How much damage has Mahathir's racial politics done to UMNO? It did not bring back the Malays but instead sent the Chinese away. But how bad was the damage?

Lunas said it all. In a seat almost impossible for the opposition to win, the National Front was kicked out.

In fact, the night before the by-election, Mahathir had again raised the specter of racial riots but the Chinese did not care. They voted for the opposition nevertheless, and in the process a new trend has started.

RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN