Are the Malays going back to BN?

There is a vast difference between the Umno Malay and the Pakatan Malay.

COMMENT

The latest survey that concluded in mid-August revealed that the Malays have gone back to supporting Barisan Nasional.

According to Bukit Gantang MP, Ustaz Idris Ahmad of PAS, “the main reason for the Malays deserting Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is due to short-sightedness.  The Malays view the BR1M financial aid as their great problem-solver and therefore threw their support behind BN, not realising that BN will get back more than what was given out to the rakyat.  Prices of goods, food and other necessities go up regularly and BR1M will not be able to cover these increases as BR1M is only given at the beginning of the year while prices of goods continue to go up the whole year.”

This sadly shows that many Malays just see the bulk amount of BR1M and thus they get influenced by BN.

However, PAS’ Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has a different view. He said the Malay support was returning to BN due to their baseless fears when they see many Chinese voting for Pakatan.

Besides that, the Chinese have been unjustly portrayed as ungrateful to the government when they voted for Pakatan.

This is untrue as the Chinese merely showed their preference for Anwar Ibrahim over Najib Tun Razak because they view the opposition leader and Pakatan as having better ideas for good governance.

The Chinese know that only a Malay can be Prime Minister and by voting for Pakatan, they merely choose one leader over another.

All these just go to show that our nation is still divided along racial lines. It is the BN politicians who use the race card well and the fear of the Malays for the Chinese has opened up endless possibilities for Umno.

Although MCA and MIC also use the race card by harping that they do a lot to help their respective races, many can see that both the parties cannot really do much as they always have to toe the line and one word from big brother Umno will immediately drive them into absolute silence.

There is a vast difference between the Umno Malay and the Pakatan Malay.

The harsh reality

The Pakatan Malay have no qualms voting for the DAP and working well with the Chinese as shown in the Bersih rallies where there was always great camaraderie between all races.

The Malays who support Pakatan respect the DAP while those who support BN do so only because of Umno but do they really respect the MCA?

This is the harsh reality of the Malaysian political scenario.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak must thus work fast on his national reconciliation plan.

The second Parliament sitting is from Sept 23 to Oct 3 and what are his programmes for national reconciliation?

As the Prime Minister, Najib must be all-inclusive. He should try to win back some Chinese support to show that all races support BN and thus his 1Malaysia slogan is a successful one.

He can regain Chinese backing by launching concrete plans to curb crime, corruption and cronyism.

On the other hand, Pakatan leaders must go all out to regain some Malay support by explaining that there is no need to fear the Chinese because their community also wants a Malay to lead the nation.

The Chinese acknowledge that Malaysia being a Malay-majority nation must therefore have a Malay leader.

However, this is easier said than done as PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has said that the Malays have blind faith in Umno.

“The Malays always believe that every word Umno says is true and that is the reason why it is difficult to get them to believe in Pakatan.

“During the 13th general election campaign, Pakatan leaders had warned that there will be a petrol hike if BN wins. But the Malays instead said that Pakatan leaders were telling lies about BN in order to garner votes.

“It is extremely difficult to convince the Malays to vote Pakatan because they are easily blinded by Umno’s words,” said Mohamad, also popularly known as Mat Sabu.

For a vibrant democracy, both the government and the opposition must have a fair mix of races supporting both coalitions.

Race issues should never be used to garner support and divide the rakyat as everyone has a place under the Malaysian sun.

Najib must show concrete plans

It must be emphasised that the Chinese believe that Pakatan is the better team and thus should be given a chance to form the federal government.

There is a saying that goes: ‘If it ain’t broken, then don’t fix it’. But is BN’s administration and management skills par excellence?

Each time the price of petrol goes up, the BN government will say that the subsidies saved will be channelled towards improving the public transport. Yet the public transport is still in the doldrums.

This also makes car ownership a necessity, not a luxury, to enable one to get around easily.

And what about issues such as inflation, crime, unemployment and economic downturn? Are these problems the rakyat’s hallucinations?

Therefore, Najib has got his work cut out for him. He must unite the races for the good of national harmony so that everyone can move forward as a nation.

Otherwise, he will only remain as a leader who is all hype but without any concrete plans.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.