PETALING JAYA: Political analysts have panned former prime minister Najib Razak’s recent claim that Pakatan Harapan (PH) would not have won the May 9 polls if it had been “truly honest” in its manifesto, saying many other factors were also at play in the election.
James Chin from the University of Tasmania said most ordinary Malaysians knew that manifestos were all “sweet talk” and would not expect “100% compliance” as long as the majority of pledges were met.
“The fact is, the names ‘Najib’ and ‘Umno’ were toxic for Malaysians in the last general election,” he told FMT.
“They just wanted to get rid of Najib because of 1MDB, to end corruption and to punish Umno for all its misdeeds over the past 60 years.
“Najib and 1MDB were the key reasons why Barisan Nasional (BN) lost.”
Chin, who is the director of the university’s Asia Institute, added that Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the other key factor in PH’s election victory.
“He broke the rural Malay vote for PH. Without him, PH would have lost narrowly.”
In an interview with Sinar Harian last week, Najib had cast doubt on PH’s prospects of winning the election, saying it would not have received the same support if it had been honest about its pledges.
He cited the PH government’s about-turns on issues like the abolishment of tolls, repayment of student loans and fixing the price of RON95 based on the automatic price mechanism (APM).
Chin said Najib’s plan was simple. “He knows he cannot escape 1MDB. What he wants is public sympathy. That is why he is the most active social media user in the opposition.
“It’s all about public redemption,” he added. “Any PR person will tell you that Malaysians are easy-going people and will likely forgive and forget. Najib is hoping for both.”
Oh Ei Sun from the Pacific Research Centre said Najib would do better to focus on fighting the various charges against him, adding that PH would have been able to keep its election pledges if not for the national debt, said to be RM1 trillion.
Political geostrategist Azmi Hassan from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Perdana School told FMT that PH’s manifesto pledges had likely played an important role in the election outcome.
“However, how much weight these promises had in influencing voters is anybody’s guess,” he added.
He said PH was not likely to have secured victory if its manifesto contained only realistic promises.
“But again, corruption was the critical issue dominating GE14.”
Independent political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff meanwhile said the May 9 polls had been more about going up against Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor and 1MDB than PH’s election pledges.
“Certain segments of the people did care about the promises, but the impact wouldn’t have mattered much even if those sweet promises were not there.
“PH and their pledges were not the main determinant of voting behaviour in GE14. The change would not have been that significant.”
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