Khairy’s support only from young urbanites, says analyst

 

Khairy Jamaluddin (centre) on the campaign trail for the general election in November. He was axed from Umno recently for breaching party discipline. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: A political analyst has cast doubt on Khairy Jamaluddin’s ability to gain the support of young Malay voters, saying that the former Umno Youth chief managed to command support only from the young in urban or semi-urban areas.

Pacific Research Center principal adviser Oh Ei Sun said young urban Malays are considered to be progressive, compared to their rural counterparts who are more conservative.

Oh was commenting on questions regarding Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s statement that the party lost its “youth magnet” by sacking Khairy.

Khairy had commendable support from urban progressive youths, he said, not the vast majority of rural, conservative youths that dominated the “green wave”.

Oh said rural Malay voters “want leaders that carry themselves like preachers”.

Those who portray themselves as preachers, such as Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz of PAS would make great candidates, as evidenced by the “green wave” in the peninsular east coast states.

For Khairy to succeed, he would need the support of young rural Malays because they do not have the tendency to skip voting, unlike those in the urban and semi-urban areas.

This commitment to voting is what makes the rural Malay youths the “darlings” for Malay-based parties, and is one of the reasons why parties like PAS are confident of victory in the coming state elections, he said.

“Urban youths may be more in number, but they don’t vote as diligently as their rural counterparts who can be mobilised more readily by PAS.”

Another political analyst, Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya, said Umno had other young leaders capable of being “youth magnets”, such as Umno information chief Isham Jalil and Dr Akmal Saleh.

He said Khairy failed to garner enough support despite having been a youth leader in Umno.

“So Ismail’s statement of Khairy being a ‘youth magnet’ is not true because young people did not support Umno then, despite him being close to the youths.”

Awang Azman said young members of Umno need to paint an image of a “progressive and moderate” party to the public, and increase Umno’s social media efforts if it wants to be known among the youngsters and attract more young members. - FMT