Anwar has little choice but to be seen as pro-Malay, says analyst

 

Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim must tackle issues affecting the Malays and fight for the Malay cause if he wants more votes, Council of Professors fellow Jeniri Amir said.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Anwar Ibrahim has no choice but to be seen as pro-Malay if he wants to attract the Malay electorate in the state elections, an analyst said.

Council of Professors fellow Jeniri Amir said it would be an uphill battle for Anwar to win over the Malays, especially with Perikatan Nasional (PN) as a viable option for some.

“To attract the Malay vote, Anwar has no other choice but to be seen as pro-Malay and pro-Bumiputera. Otherwise, the Malays will feel sidelined and that will aggravate his position,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the prime minister’s greatest challenge in the coming state elections was to increase the coalition’s support among the Malays.

As it stood, Khairy said, it would be impossible for PH to win in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, especially since PH only managed to secure 15% of the Malay votes in these Malay-majority states in the 15th general election (GE15).

Jeniri said most Malays are put off by Anwar and PH because DAP is one of the component parties in the coalition and it has been cast in a bad light over the years.

“He needs to take more risks, tackle issues affecting Malays, and fight for the Malay cause if he wants to garner more votes,” he said, adding that while non-Malay voters would not be ecstatic about this, the ruling coalition did not have any other alternatives.

“The Malays could opt to vote for PN, but it is relatively conservative with PAS there,” the academic said.

Let Umno take the lead in winning Malay votes’

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Akademi Nusantara senior fellow Azmi Hassan argued that it was not up to Anwar to attract the Malay votes, but rather Umno, PH’s partner in the unity government.

“The most important thing for Malays, especially in states like Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis, is whether Anwar can protect the Malay interests and protect the sanctity of Islam as the official religion. This is something Umno can do,” he said.

He said the shift of the Malay votes to PN in GE15 was because the Malays felt they could not rely on Umno, which was bogged down with internal conflict.

“But now, they are relatively stable with minimal internal bickering. I think it is the best time for PH to give Umno the responsibility of getting the Malay votes,” he said.

Unlike PH, whose strongholds are in developed states and multicultural, multireligious urban centres such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Selangor, Umno’s strongholds remain in the Malay heartlands of Melaka, Johor, Pahang and some parts of Perak.

However, due to recent controversies and internal bickering, support for what used to be the backbone of the BN administration has eroded quite significantly, as seen in GE15, when Umno posted its worst performance. It only secured 26 parliamentary seats compared to 54 previously. - FMT