Kedah MB's lottery shop ban seems like Malacca polls gambit - analysts

 

MALACCA POLLS | PAS-led Kedah state government's decision to effectively ban gaming shops is believed to be related to the ongoing Malacca state election, said analysts.

They told Malaysiakini that the timing of the announcement, which was yesterday, conveniently coincided with the election where PAS and its allies in Perikatan Nasional were gunning for Malay-majority seats.

"The question here is, why such a decision was not announced six months, or maybe a year ago? This is seen as an action that has political motivation aimed at attracting support for PAS and Bersatu, which really need Malay votes in order to win the state election," Universiti Malaya's Awang Azman Awang Pawi told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

The socio-political analyst was asked for his view on Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor's announcement yesterday, where he said the state government would not renew gaming shop business licences issued by the local councils.

Sanusi reportedly said the move was intended to tackle social ills caused by gambling, such as the collapse of family institutions.

Awang Azman believes that the announcement, however, might backfire on the PN coalition instead.

"The decision is surely popular among PAS supporters, but no guarantee that it can be accepted in Malacca, where its voters are more moderate and understand the fact that they are living in a multiracial community.

"The concept of tolerance has been the practice in Malacca, and what Kedah MB did may not swing many votes.

"However, on the other hand, the act may cause uneasiness to PAS allies like Gerakan. It would also make other parties like MCA and MIC be in an awkward position, as they are in the same cabinet at the federal level," he said.

Voting propensity

Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore's Institute of International Affairs, believed that PN could have discounted the prospect of winning the Chinese majority seats and decided to focus on getting Malay-Muslim support.

"Ultimately, the Malacca election will be decided by the voting propensity among the three coalitions by the Malay-Muslim voters," he said.

"Chinese voters are in any way unlikely to vote for either BN or PN, and the four Chinese-majority seats could thus in a sense be discounted from the pertinent political calculations by BN and PN.

"Conversely, PN must have thought that by imposing the ban in Kedah, it could reinforce its religious credentials and thereby galvanise its potential Malay-Muslim supporters to come out to vote, thus raising its winning prospects," he said. - Mkini