Challenger Anwar Ibrahim leads a coalition of three opposition parties: his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, and the Islamist Parti Agama SeMalaysia and the Democratic Action Party.
It all unfolds on Rook Island, a lush jungle supposedly somewhere in the eastern Pacific and a battleground between mercenaries, pirates and the indigenous Rakyat.
Voters - some 80% of whom cast ballots - had been faced with returning the ruling coalition or choosing Mr Anwar's untested three-party alliance, Pakatan Rakyat.
But of those that chose the state banks, most went either to Bank Negara Indonesia or to Bank Rakyat Indonesia: the four banks that now comprise Bank Mandiri received few of the new customers.