One observer expects conservatism to grow further across the country, favouring PAS, while another says PAS could even woo urban, progressive Malays.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs expects conservatism to grow further across the country, favouring PAS, while Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid said there were still urban, progressive Malays whom PAS could woo.
Oh said the rise in conservatism among Malay voters had become increasingly noticeable in recent years, a key factor that enabled PAS to win 43 seats in GE15, making it the single largest party in the Dewan Rakyat.
When the Malay community became more conservative, its members would naturally gravitate towards an Islamic party like PAS, he said, adding that PAS was riding on this trend more than it was driving it.
“That’s why PAS has a lot of room to grow, including in urban areas. This trend of conservatism isn’t just in rural areas; it’s in urban areas as well.
“This is not just a phenomenon in Malaysia. This is happening in Turkey, Indonesia and many other countries where there’s a Muslim majority. As such, PAS has a lot of room to grow,” he told FMT.
Fauzi said Pakatan Harapan (PH) must come to terms with the political reality of growing support for conservatism and identity politics. He said the coalition had often exhibited patronising behaviour towards PAS supporters, exemplifying its disconnect from reality and further pushing these voters away.
PAS can be progressive and still retain conservative support
On the other hand, Fauzi said PAS should seek to expand its support by looking to woo progressive, urban Malays, which he believed would not cost the party its traditional conservative voter base.
He said PAS’s anti-graft stance had already helped it wrest a good chunk of votes from Umno in the past and could continue to do so, while progressive Malays’ disappointment with PH could open them up to PAS if it started pushing policies on governance, accountability and justice.
He said that to win these voters over, PAS would have to convince them that it was not an extremist party, specifically by promoting social pluralism and interfaith engagement while merging Islamism with modern nationhood ideals.
“Frankly speaking, it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. PAS must be creative. For example, it can diversify its candidate profile and field English-speaking professionals as candidates in urban areas and the west coast states,” Fauzi said.
“Its preachers must also be trained to speak the language of human rights and social pluralism, and a module should be prepared by PAS to prove that these concepts don’t contradict Islamist politics at all.”
He said young Malay voters were another crucial target segment, pointing out that they were not loyal to any one party and would be more willing to switch their support at the ballot box.
“It is this pool of ‘floating voters’ that PAS needs to convince in order to tip the scales in its march to Putrajaya,” Fauzi added.
Last week, Wawasan information chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said the growth in Malay support for Perikatan Nasional was reaching its limit and that the coalition needed a moderate, multiracial party to further shore up support.
The Machang MP said this was where Wawasan wanted to complement PAS’s strength among conservative voters to “bring PN a little more to the middle”.
Wawasan, led by opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin, was originally named Parti Cinta Malaysia and founded by former Gerakan leader Huan Cheng Guan.
In June, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had also said PAS needed to work with another moderate Malay party as its traditional religious support base was nearing saturation. - FMT
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