Malays are rejecting Pakatan Harapan due to its “full-blown” liberal democratic nature, said Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal.
This is because they needed to be protected by those who share similar identity politics, he explained.
“The Malays need a protector. They have a neo-feudal mentality and are not ready to embrace a full-blown liberal democracy yet. At the end of the day, the societal nature of embracing a tribal mentality will persist,” he said in an interview with The Vibes.
The National Unity deputy minister claimed that Harapan’s liberalism was one of the reasons his party left the Harapan-led government in the 2020 Sheraton Move.
He labelled Harapan’s branding as “unsustainable”, claiming it would only erode bumiputera support, which was proven by the party’s poor performance in recent Malacca, Sarawak and Johor state elections.
Can’t downplay identity politics
He said the issue with centre-left parties, including Muda, is the tendency to downplay identity politics, upon the impression that Malaysia is a “liberal” and “matured” democratic country.
“In fact, even in the West, they too succumb to identity politics, because we live in a society where there are cultures, traditions and religions. These help shape voters’ judgment on which leader and party they want to support.
“Why do you think the Malay votes came to us when we left Harapan? It’s because of the assurance that we are no longer kowtowing to Harapan’s brand of liberal politics,” he was quoted as saying.
Harapan’s popular vote in Malacca fell from a 50.8 percent majority during the 14th general election to 35 percent in 2021’s state election.
In Johor, Harapan, with Muda, came in second place with 30 percent of the popular votes, followed by Bersatu's Perikatan Nasional with 24 percent of votes. - Mkini
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