‘Umno leaders’ popularity among Chinese doesn’t matter’

It is immaterial which Umno leader is most popular amongst the Chinese Malaysian community, according to Asia Institute Tasmania director James Chin, because their party would not be accepted.

“No matter how popular they are, the majority of Chinese voters cannot accept them because their party Umno represents racism and Islamisation,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

Chin was responding to a survey conducted by the Chinese-language daily Oriental Daily, which was published yesterday.

The daily reported that out of 14,602 respondents, an overwhelming majority had polled “none of the above” when asked which of four Umno leaders should lead the country.

Of the four, Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein garnered the most votes, followed by Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, and president Najib Abdul Razak. The party’s acting deputy president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi polled last.

The poll also found that most would rather spoil their votes than choose between Umno and PAS.

The majority of respondents also pointed to good governance as their main consideration when casting their ballots, and hoped for a new federal government after the next election.

Amongst Pakatan Harapan leaders, 38.98 percent of respondents said PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim should lead the country.

Chin said these findings are not surprising, and showed that the Chinese electorate’s sentiments are still similar to what it was during the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

“The Chinese want to get rid of Umno and BN. They regard Umno as the source of anti-Chinese racism and Islamisation policies,” he explained.

Chin argued, however, that Oriental Daily had posed “the wrong question” by asking respondents what they wanted for the future, because election results are ultimately decided by the Malay electorate.

“Non-Malay seats account for only about 20 percent of total seats in parliament. Absolute Malay majority seats are about 60 percent. So, asking the Chinese community about the future is irrelevant, since even if 100 percent of the Chinese voters voted for Pakatan Harapan, they still cannot form the government.

“The correct question to ask is who among the Malay leaders believe that Chinese are accepted as Malaysians, since many feel they are second-class citizens.

“So again, it is no surprise that Anwar comes out on top. In the past decade, only Anwar and his daughter were making statements that do not make Chinese feel like second-class citizens,” he said.

Separately, John Cabot University associate professor Bridget Welsh said that the survey shows that Najib and his governance scandals are becoming a liability to BN, which has allowed Hishammuddin and Khairy to outshine him.

“Najib is using two issues to try to win them over: Projecting himself as the winner and thus the need to be in the winning camp, and supposed better management of the economy to serve Chinese interests.

“He is a liability in his efforts and others in Umno – Hishammudin and Khairy – as the survey shows, could be more effective. More than in any campaign, BN is being weighed down by their association with a deeply unpopular leader,” she said.

However, Welsh cautioned that surveys only capture sentiment, which is not necessarily reflected in voting behaviour.- Mkini