Careful chroniclers of South-east Asian transitions may have noticed a small event that took place in Sarawak's Kota Samarahan in early March, when the Chapel of the Sacred Heart was inaugurated within the compound of the Sarawak Heart Centre, a government facility.

Score one for Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, current head of government in the East Malaysian state, whose Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition was returned with a landslide 76 of 82 seats in state assembly elections held last December. The result was an improvement from the previous state election in Malaysia's only non-Muslim majority state, when the GPS coalition, then under the Barisan Nasional banner, got 72 seats.