PETALING JAYA: Demands for an apology from DAP over past accusations against Umno are aimed at shoring up Malay voter support in the coming elections, according to a political analyst.
Akademi Nusantara fellow Azmi Hassan said Umno leaders such as deputy president Mohamad Hasan and Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh were trying to demonstrate that Umno was superior to DAP.
The move was a way to convince supporters that, thanks to Umno’s superiority, it would be safe for them to vote for Pakatan Harapan candidates in the coming legislative elections in six states..
However, getting DAP to apologise “will not make much difference”, said Azmi. Instead, Umno should demonstrate that it had a stronger voice than DAP in the government.
He said it was unlikely for DAP to make a tit-for-tat demand for an apology from Umno for its own accusations.
“DAP members know very well why they need to support Umno candidates in the state elections in relation to the stability of the unity government, because the alternative is Perikatan Nasional,” Azmi told FMT.
“So DAP will not ask Umno to apologise, and DAP will not apologise to Umno, because there would be no value added in this for both DAP and Umno.”
Another analyst, Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said Umno leaders were getting sidetracked from preparing for the state elections and the threat posed by their shared rival, Perikatan Nasional.
“If at this point they’re still fretting over an apology they are verging on being delusional as they fail to see the bigger, common enemy in PAS,” said Oh.
PAS and Bersatu are the dominant partners in Perikatan Nasional.
Oh said the sooner Umno puts away “these essentially childish and self-destructive antics” to focus on the state elections, the higher their chances of winning.
He said it was unlikely for DAP to apologise simply to win over Malay voters, as the party did not need a lot of Malay votes to win its seats.
“They have overwhelming support from the non-Malays in their primarily non-Malay majority seats. In fact, they will lose such support if they apologise to Umno.”
On Thursday, Akmal had demanded an open apology from DAP for accusations made against Umno in the past when the two parties were political rivals.
Akmal said this was necessary if DAP wanted to win the support of Malay voters and Umno supporters in the coming state elections. Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi later played this down and said there was no need to prolong the issue.
However, Zahid’s deputy, Mohamad, said Akmal’s suggestion was good. Mohamad, who is also the defence minister in Anwar Ibrahim’s government, said there was a need for parties in the unity government to be magnanimous.
After attending Umno’s general assembly, DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook then urged Umno Youth to forget the acrimonious past, saying it was time to move on.
Akmal later said Umno Youth would support the campaign efforts of parties in the government, whether or not its demand for a DAP apology is fulfilled. - FMT
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