NO MORE MALAY TSUNAMI – NAJIB HAS ‘SMOOTHED A BREAKING WAVE’ BY INCREASING CASH AID, SAYS FORMER POL-SEC

PETALING JAYA – Asia Strategy and Leadership Institute senior adviser Oh Ei San expects Barisan Nasional (BN) to not only receive a new mandate but win with a two-thirds majority in the 14th general election, despite a fierce challenge from Pakatan Harapan.

This, he said, is because BN has smoothed a “breaking wave” that could trigger a Malay political tsunami by increasing the 1Malaysia People’s Aid.

He described BN’s promised of “goodies” for various groups in its election manifesto as a smart strategy to win votes.

Oh, a former political secretary to caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, told Singapore’s largest Chinese daily, Lianhe Zaobao, that rural and suburban voters benefit the most – judging from the manifesto – from BN’s micro campaigning style.

On the other hand, he said, the Opposition is adopting the macro strategy in its election manifesto, such as the promise to abolish the goods and services tax (GST) to benefit millions of voters to gain their support.

“It is left to be seen which strategy is more effective. But with the advantage of being the governing coalition and better resources, BN can make many promises. I believe BN has very good chances of winning rural and suburban seats,” he said.

Meanwhile, political commentator Tang Ah Chai predicts that BN will either win with a two-thirds majority or suffer major losses.

He told the Singapore daily that although BN’s manifesto and the latest electoral boundary redelineation have increased the coalition’s winning chances, for BN to win the election via the redelineation exercise, there must not be any changes in the voting pattern or any Malay political tsunami in rural constituencies or the outcome can be disastrous for BN.

“With the redrawing of boundaries, there will be a higher concentration of Malay voters in many constituencies particularly in the rural areas. BN is hoping to gain from this, which it will based on GE13’s voting trend. But should there be a Malay political tsunami, it will only work against the ruling coalition.”

– Sundaily