Abusing religion a brilliant political strategy, says IDEAS

PETALING JAYA: The head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) says in his experience, voters are primarily concerned about matters concerning identity politics.

Speaking at an international conference on democracy and the Muslim world convened by the Istanbul Network here, Wan Saiful Wan Jan said he had found through conversations with the electorate that they were also concerned about economic issues.

However, this was trumped by identity politics, he added.

Wan Saiful said this pattern could be observed all around the world, but that it was most prevalent in developing countries.

“Identity politics works especially in countries where matters such as policy decisions are not given as much attention.”

He said any politician who wanted to win votes should appeal to the sentiment of the voters, and that voters, especially in Malaysia, were the most sentimental about their religion.

“It is brilliant to abuse religion. If I was advising a politician on how to win votes and I wanted to be crude, that’s exactly what I’d tell him to do.

“This is the political strategy that is currently being exploited by some irresponsible people.”

He said the outcome of playing up these sentiments was an increasing intolerance in the country.

“When people become emotional, intolerance comes into play. People are most emotional about religion.” -FMT