No News Is Bad News
Do they have the political will and courage to do the right thing - stamp out the racial and religious bigots’ continuous use of race and religion to brainwash the Malay mindset, thus threatening national unity and harmony.
CORRECTION! PN’s huge gains in Penang due to Umno Malays and Indian votes!
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16, 2023: Political scientist Wong Chin Huat claims that Perikatan Nasional (PN) made huge gains in the Penang state election on Saturday (Aug 12, 2023), winning 11 Malay majority seats on the back of a large number of votes from Umno supporters.
No News Is Bad News begs to differ. Wong, unfortunately, has forgotten that Pakatan Harapan (PH), in the six state elections lost 15% of the community’s support while PN increased by 21%.
*Election Summary: Bridget Walsh MKini Aug 14 2023*
Voter turnout:
M - 70%, C, 65%, Indian, 69%
Compared to GE 15, Malay n Chinese voter drop was -10% but Indian voter drop was highest at -15%.
Indian votes dropped for PH by :
21% in NS, 19% in Pg , 12% Sgor.
Indian votes increased for PN by :
29% in Pg, 19% in NS, 14% Sgor
Chse vote was 98% for PH in all States.
So, Indian voters decreased by -15% n if that’s not enough, Indian votes for PN increased by 29% in Penang n an average of 21% for all 3 States combined.
Malay votes increased by 13.5% average in all 6 States.
Therefore Indian support increase of 21% average for PN was higher than Malay average increase.
What can I say about Indians? Let’s not waste time talking about Malay green wave.
Although Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani Unity Government (UG) has in the past nine months shown to be more inclusive compared to previous federal government, why then did the Indians swing their support to the Taliban-like PAS and Bersatu led by Muhyiddin “I Am Malay” first Yassin?
Wong, who is also a DAP strategist, would do well to dig into deeper into why the Indians swung as the Indians and the racial and religious bigots will surely inflict undue political damage to the Madani UG come the 16th General Election (GE) which must be held in 2027.
The huge factor and problem is also the Umno Malays who turned traitors and voted for PAS and Bersatu. How do they deal with the Umno "Trojan horses"? - that is the miilion-dollar question.
The two problems, Indians and Umno Malays, must surely be Anwar and Umno president Zahid Hamadi’s headache now, in the aftermath of GE15 in November and the six state elections.
Only with political will and courage to do the right thing will the duo be able to save multiracial-multireligious Malaysia.
PAS and Bersatu’s success in winning over the Malays are due to their unabated exploitation of racial and religious bigotry. Period.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below two related news reports:
PN’s huge gains in Penang due to Umno votes, says analyst
Political scientist Wong Chin Huat said that PKR and Amanah lost Malay-majority seats due to the lack of vote transferability between BN and PH.
Dineskumar Ragu - 16 Aug 2023, 7:30am
PN will have 11 assemblymen in the 40-seat Penang legislative assembly in the new term following a surge of Malay support for the opposition coalition at the state election last Saturday. (Bernama pic)
GEORGE TOWN: Perikatan Nasional (PN) made huge gains in the Penang state election on Saturday, winning 11 Malay majority seats on the back of a large number of votes from Umno supporters, says a political scientist.
PN won the predominantly Malay seats of Sungai Bakap, Penanti, Pinang Tunggal, Seberang Jaya, Permatang Berangan, Sungai Dua, Telok Bahang, Permatang Pasir, Pulau Betong, Telok Ayer Tawar and Penaga.
Seven of those seats were wrested from PKR, four from Umno, and one from Amanah.
Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University said that the “green wave” in Penang saw PN “absorbing” the majority of Umno votes, even to the detriment of Umno candidates who lost their voter base.
He also said the much hoped for transfer of Umno votes to PH did not happen, causing unity coalition partner parties PKR and Amanah to lose to PN.
The additional votes PKR and Amanah secured were much lower than the votes BN secured in the Malay constituencies at the 15th general elections, he said.
“The (best scenario) was in Bayan Lepas, where Amanah gained 3,360 more votes, which was only about 55% of votes from BN in GE15,” he told FMT.
Meanwhile, Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk of Universiti Sains Malaysia said PN benefited from disquiet among the Malays about the poor socio-economic conditions faced by the community.
“The household income of the Malays is the lowest in the state. Plus, the cost of living in Penang is high, and owning a house is a major challenge, not only for the Malays but for other ethnic groups as well.
“All these (woes) were reflected in their dissatisfaction towards the current ruling (state) government,” he told FMT.
Throughout the campaign period, PN had spoken about the expensive housing in Penang and the high cost of living, blaming PH for failing to resolve them despite promises made in its GE15 manifesto.
Perceived subservience to DAP
Commenting on PH’s losses, Azeem said Amanah suffered from a perception that it is subservient to DAP, while PKR’s status as a multiracial party hurt its efforts to gain traction in the rural Malay seats in Penang.
Wong said PN had campaigned on the premise that the Malay parties in PH-BN were not able to uphold Islam or advance the welfare of Muslims due to their alleged deference to DAP.
“This will only change when Penang politics progresses into contestation over policy ideas (and moves) away from ethnic politics,” he added.
From race to policy-centric politics
Wong urged the Penang PH-BN coalition to take steps to divert Penang politics away from race-based polemics to a contestation of ideas.
He called on chief minister Chow Kon Yeow to make the first move by inviting PN to form a shadow state executive committee from among its 11 assemblymen and providing them with resources to conduct research work.
“When that happens, fighting for Malay interests will have to be about policy ideas, not just slogans and slanders,” he said, adding that such a move would raise the public’s expectations of the opposition and improve the image of PH-BN among the Malays.
After Umno’s capitulation, here’s what Anwar must do
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim must shoulder the responsibility of reshaping the Malay mindset independently of the once dominant Malay party.
g 23, 7:
From Ibrahim M Ahmad
Prime Minister and Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Anwar Ibrahim should be congratulated for surviving the six state elections over the weekend.
In the eyes of many, the elections went beyond the boundaries of each state, turning them into a referendum of his mandate to form and run the unity government at federal level.
Led by PAS, Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) almost total domination of Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, and its penetration into Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, cannot be denied.
Yet, those who have expressed shock and distress may be exaggerating its impact.
PH-BN still secured a two-thirds majority in both Negeri Sembilan (winning 31 of 36 seats) and Penang (29 of 40), and won 32 of the 56 seats on offer in Selangor. It is likely the results would have been similar if the elections were held simultaneously with GE 15.
In reality, Anwar has preserved the status quo.
While it would be foolish to dismiss outright the possibility that the present trend may see PAS in the seat of power in Putrajaya someday soon, PH-BN’s success in comfortably retaining the three states means that such fears can, at least for the time being, be put to rest.
The real story of the election is the capitulation of Umno, once the country’s pre-eminent Malay party.
Scoring a success rate of only 17.6% (19 wins, 89 losses), the party now ranks as the absolute worst performer among the five Malay and Malay-majority parties that contested the six state elections, well behind PAS (82.7%), Bersatu (49.4%), PKR (44.1%) and Amanah (25.8%).
Unable to depend on Umno in its present form, Anwar must now shoulder the responsibility of reshaping the Malay mindset independently of the fallen giant.
The prime minister must accept, however, that he cannot use the traditional narratives of race, religion and royalty to woo the Malay vote back to the side of his unity government. It has become abundantly clear that those narratives are now owned by PN.
Playing largely on the fears of the electorate, the opposition alliance has successfully shaped Malay minds, especially in the north, to believe that their rights and privileges cannot be protected by a unity coalition lacking a dominant and influential Malay party.
The power of incumbency, however, allows Anwar unrivalled resources to do the one thing PN politicians, despite all their lofty talk, cannot do: improve the lives of the Malays.
The prime minister has already set out a new Madani economic framework aimed at bolstering the economy. What he has yet to do is go into the specifics of how he intends to turn that vision into reality.
Realistically, that would be a full time job which Anwar, already struggling under the weight of his workload as prime minister and finance minister, cannot expect to do himself.
What he should do instead is appoint someone to execute his wide-ranging economic plan on his behalf.
The appointee must be able to identify clear economic goals, put in place a plan, devise specific strategies for its implementation and execute them.
Working under Anwar, the appointee would ideally operate as the de facto CEO of the finance ministry with the specific task of bringing the Madani economy blueprint to fruition.
Those plans must specifically incorporate measures that will significantly improve the lives of the Malays, especially those in the north.
Anwar will then be left to do what he does best. Apart from overseeing the implementation of his vision, he will have the pleasure of communicating the government’s plans for the community and updating them periodically on the progress of those plans in his own inimitable style.
That will put him in much better stead and entrench him in their hearts and minds as the better prospect for the Malays, including those in the north.
Without a doubt, a defined economic narrative was the silver bullet missing from the prime minister’s arsenal in the lead up to the recent six state elections.
Anwar and his unity coalition’s messaging rarely referred to economic factors, and failed to drive home the failure of the economies in each of the PAS-led states during campaigning.
Yet, decent jobs and better infrastructure, two things that come with economic growth, are what can lift the majority of Malays in the north out of poverty and improve their way of life.
The economy is also PN’s and PAS’s Achilles heel, as evidenced by the poor GDP performance of states under their control, and their leaders’ inability to articulate economic plans and address related issues.
Those inadequacies saw their candidates steer clear of such matters altogether when on the campaign trail.
In truth, there are very few standout contenders for the job within the unity coalition. The prime minister must identify his candidate carefully.
There is a lot of work to be done to eat into PAS’s apparent stranglehold on the Malay vote. Anwar must act now.
Ibrahim M Ahmad is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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