The Najib administration risks losing further support from the Chinese community if it continues to send mixed signals about its policies to voters nationwide, analysts have warned.
Pundits believe that while Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak speaks of inclusiveness via 1 Malaysia, his actions in issuing an ultimatum to the Chinese community to vote for coalition partner MCA over the weekend, coupled with Umno’s increasingly ultra-Malay stance, will not leave Chinese voters impressed.
“Barisan Nasional (BN) cannot have Jekyll and Hyde theatrics... sending mixed signals to voters will not work.
USM political scientist Dr Sivamurugan Pandian voiced out similar concerns, and said that Najib needs to further elaborate on what he meant by issuing such an ultimatum.
“This is a gamble that BN is undertaking, and it could potentially backfire on them.
“BN might drum up support among rural voters but urban voters might not buy into Najib’s argument... urban voters would want an explanation as to why do you need Chinese representation as opposed to just a functioning, able representation in Putrajaya? Does it have to be racially-based?” Sivamurugan told The Malaysian Insider.
Najib had over the weekend warned the Chinese community to vote for the MCA if they still wanted representation in Putrajaya.
“I see the MCA sending the message that the Chinese cannot support the opposition and at the same time expect strong representation in the government. They have to choose,” he was reported as saying by state news agency Bernama.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek defended the BN chairman’s remarks, saying that it was merely a statement of fact.
Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has also at the same time urged the party to spearhead a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” movement to protect Malay unity.
It claimed that the DAP was intent on unseating the country’s Malay political leadership.
“Groups like Perkasa who are made up of many Umno sympathisers are becoming more right wing, and their actions are not reprimanded while at the same time the PM talks about 1 Malaysia.
“Although I think what Najib said over the weekend was fair, but it won’t go down well among the Chinese because they have been voting for MCA and BN, but MCA has not proven itself as a worthy partner in the coalition to have proper representation,” Ibrahim elaborated.
He said the continued distancing from BN by Chinese voters mirrored their disappointment in the ruling coalition.
“There have been too many unfulfilled promises since the Abdullah administration, on a corruption-free government, transparency.
“When you have Umno being more right wing, it also alienates a lot of Chinese voters. What do you expect them to do? You can’t say one thing to a community, and then another thing to another community,” said the analyst.
Currently, the MCA only has 15 MPs and 31 state assemblymen from the last general election in 2008.
It had contested in 40 parliamentary seats and 90 state seats in GE12.
Sivamurugan said BN should look into the factors as to why Chinese support for the coalition had dropped.
“BN’s formula might work with rural voters, for instance, they might believe that they need a Chinese voice for the Chinese community.
“But urban voters don’t. They want more of a functioning representative, not so much race, more of proper governance,” said the academic.
Professor Shamsul Adabi Mamat, however, defended BN’s approach, saying that Najib was merely offering the Chinese community a viable choice.
“The Chinese have to be wise, they have to pick a team which can offer a tolerant balance in the country’s politics,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
He felt that Najib’s actions were more towards damage control in trying to recover Chinese support for coalition partner MCA which suffered in the last general election.
“It is the prime minister’s responsibility to win back support for MCA and Gerakan, who failed in the last GE to garner votes,” Shamsul said.
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