Umno’s not-to-do list

(The Malaysian Insider) AUG 26 — Rohaizat Othman’s resounding defeat in Permatang Pasir exposed more than just the danger of fielding a flawed individual as an election candidate.

It laid bare:

The risky nature of Umno’s new strategy of going all out to win the Malay vote

An approach which has seen its politicians and party-controlled media organs play the race card and employ right-wing rhetoric aggressively in the past couple of months.

Umno insiders say that the strategy is anchored on this premise: that if Umno can once again become the undisputable voice of Malays here, the non-Malays will be cowed into fearing the might of the ruling party and become more accepting of the status quo in Malaysia.

But the results in Permatang Pasir show that the premise is shaky, at best. Pas candidate Mohd Salleh Man defeated Rohaizat by a majority of 4,551 votes. The margin of victory was lower than then 5,433 votes achieved by Pas in March 2008.

Yet, Umno/BN should not celebrate.

The voter turnout yesterday was 73 per cent, compared with 83 per cent in Election 2008. Perhaps more telling was the fact that Pas snared 65.5 per cent of the vote, less than 1 per cent lower than what it obtained on March 8 2008.

Umno leaders say that early analysis of the results show that the party managed to increase the share of Malay votes but conceded that BN did not manage to make much headway in carving out much support among the 27 per cent Chinese vote bank.

For example, in the mainly Chinese areas of Sama Gagah and Cross Street, the Pas candidate won 1397 and 942 votes, compared with 594 and 300 for BN. It is believed that as much as 75 per cent of Chinese vote went to Pas.

The fact is that many seats right across West Malaysia are just like Permatang Pasir, mixed constituency wards with a significant Malay majority but with sizeable non-Malay voters.

If Umno continues its approach of only looking after the interest of Malay/Muslim voters and alienating non-Malays, it will have to obtain more than 60 per cent of the Malay vote in every electoral contest — a near impossible target given the hardcore support Pas enjoys in the Malay heartland.

If Umno continues to encourage saber-rattling talk, wear its arrogance as a badge of honour and believes that it can hammer non-Malays into submission, then it will have to accept that Permatang Pasir will not be a one-off.

Read more at: Umno’s not-to-do list — The Malaysian Insider