‘SPLIT IN MALAY VOTES WILL HURT BN’: MORE & MORE MALAYS ARE BEGINNING TO BE UNHAPPY WITH NAJIB’S ADMINISTRATION, WARNS ANALYST

A DEBATE that raged on in the cyberspace over Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim’s “no need to change ship” remark days ago offers a hint of the split among Malay voters, says a political analyst.

In a report published in the Oriental Daily News today, the head of Centre for Asian Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Assoc Prof Dr Faisal S. Hazis, said there is no need to second-guess whom the non-Malays and East Malaysian bumiputras would support in the 14th general election, but the choices of many Malay voters in Peninsular Malaysia remain unclear.

“Indeed, many Malays support the Barisan Nasional (BN) but at the same time, more and more Malays is beginning to feel unhappy with the government.”

He said it can be seen from the responses to the crown prince’s remark that the Malays are split in their support, which will affect the outcome of the election.

However, Faisal said although the situation for BN now is worse compared with 2013, it cannot be concluded from the messages left by netizens on the crown prince’s remark that there is going to be a Malay political tsunami.

In his post on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page on the day Parliament was dissolved, Tunku Ismail urged Johoreans not to change a ship’s engine simply because its skipper was problematic.

Despite Umno leaders’ confidence of a two-thirds majority for BN, Faisal deemed it an uphill task for the national front to achieve this target in the face of the “Mahathir factor”, the controversies surrounding 1MDB and Felda, as well as topics such as the goods and services tax (GST).

On the announcement of goodies in BN’s election manifesto, he said it is just the tradition in the run-up to the election.

He said a survey showed that in GE13, 80% of the voters already made up their mind before the Parliament was dissolved.

He pointed out that the Opposition has addressed some of the mistakes it made in the last polls, by making public its prime minister candidate prior the election and adopting a common symbol.

– Sundaily