Not quite a Malay tsunami

THE Malay wave is still strong but it failed to turn into a Malay tsunami.

The wave could not submerge Selangor or Negri Sembilan, the two states that some predicted would fall.

However, it would be folly to imagine that the Malay wave has weakened.

It was powerful enough to smash the two-thirds majority held by Pakatan Harapan in Selangor while Penang came within a whisker of losing its own two-thirds majority as well.

But the status quo of 3:3 - three states each for the Pakatan/Umno and Perikatan Nasional - was maintained and at press time, Penang and Negri Sembilan were on the way to forming their respective governments with a two-thirds majority.

Selangor secured a simple majority of 29 seats at around 10pm and the opinion out there is that the Prime Minister should have directed his energy and efforts at Selangor instead of Kedah.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim resembled a dynamo throughout the campaign and it is unclear why he did not make Selangor the focus.

Perikatan has made an amazing inroad into this premier state and unofficial results has Perikatan winning 22 seats.

Every government needs a check-and-balance and the stronger Opposition bench will be good for Selangor.

The Selangor government has started to take the overwhelming support for granted and it was shocking to hear of a Pakatan candidate shaming people for not coming out to vote.

Umno managed to defy the odds and avoid being obliterated. The great irony is that this ultra-Malay party now needs non-Malay support to win. It is no longer able to hold its own in Malay seats.

Umno was almost wiped out in Penang with the exception of former minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican in Bertam and Rashidi Zainol in Sungai Acheh.

The Malay wave drowned Umno in Terengganu, delivering a clean sweep to Perikatan.

The disastrous result in Terengganu was not unexpected because this is what happens when a party continues to feature damaged personalities among its candidates.

The power of the Malay wave also saw PAS winning the Kuala Terengganu by-election which was declared null and void by the courts on grounds of bribery.

The winning result drew this response from a lawyer: "This is hilarious. After being found guilty of bribery and losing the seat (won in November last year), PAS won it again with an even bigger majority."

Despite the alarm bells over the exceptionally low voter turnout in Kelantan, the PAS-led government conceded only two seats, one to Umno in Galas and another to Pakatan in Kota Lama where there is a significant Chinese presence.

Meanwhile, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi remained as formidable as ever in the face of such a fierce and unmitigated attack against him.

Pakatan in Kedah only managed to win in Kota Darul Aman, Bakar Arang and Sidam.

Pakatan/Umno threw everything including the kitchen sink at Sanusi but all of it was no match against the Sanusi wave.

In fact, it might have backfired because it rallied Kedahans to his side. Sanusi will continue to make mistakes and shoot from the hip but the Kedah people love him.

One survey after another had indicated that this six-state election would be the most racially-divided election the country had ever seen.

The line was quite clearly drawn down the middle, with Malays on one side and non-Malays, particularly the Chinese on the other.

This pattern of racially-divided politics is not going away anytime soon and will continue to complicate governance and race relations in the coming months.

Umno, said a party official, has become a "side dish" on the table of politics. It has been replaced by Perikatan in Malay states and seats.

"The swing in Malay support to Perikatan is major. Umno was almost wiped out everywhere except in Negri Sembilan. Many of the seats Umno won was also due to non-Malay support," said political analyst Khaw Veon Szu.

It basically boils down to the Malay rejection of Umno or as many have pointed out, a rejection of its controversial president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. - Star