How The Malay Vote Was Lost
The Malays make up over 45% of the total population in Penang. However Malays make up only 35.7% of registered voters in Penang. So even if all the 35.7% of voters who are Malays came out to vote, they will still lose to the Chinese. This is even more drastic in Kuala Lumpur. Chinese make up 43.2% of the population of Kuala Lumpur. However 52.15% of registered voters in KL are Chinese. Malays on the other hand make up over 50% of the population in KL. However registered voters who are Malay make up 35.7% only.
OutSyed The Box
Before I forget allow me to write the conclusion to this blogpost first :
The majority race of a State does not guarantee their victory at the Polls. The success of any one racial group at the Polls depends on how many members of that racial grouping are :
i. registered voters
ii. how many of them actually came out to vote on Polling Day.
Yesterday at about 3:30PM I blogged this urgently : URGENT : PENGUNDI MELAYU KENA KELUAR UNDI SEKARANG
There was a reason for this. Yesterday at Bangsar there were thousands of Chinese voters. In the queue, Chinese folks were saying ‘I spent RM400 to fly from Singapore to vote‘. One guy said he flew his son in from Hong Kong to vote. Another person said he had come back from Australia just to vote. The Chinese were out in huge numbers to vote.
First of all we must congratulate the Chinese for their diligence, their commitment and also their faith in the electoral process. This is a democracy. We determine our fate through the ballot. That is the process that we have all agreed upon. So we must salute the Chinese voters for having so much trust in the democratic process.
However who we vote for and why we vote for them is something else. Dont forget that the German people once voted for Hitler and the Nazis – also through the democratic ballot.
Then I also noticed that there were very, very few Malay voters (in Sek Keb Bukit Bandaraya). After voting I received calls from a friend of mine who said the same thing. Chinese voter turnout was huge in Kelana Jaya and Shah Alam. The Malay voters were not as many. Then my friend said he was getting calls from Johor saying the same thing. Where were the Malay voters?
Two of my Malay staff who were supposed to vote did not do so for flimsy reasons (‘kereta tak datang ambil‘ and ‘ramai sangat tunggu queue‘). That is when I decided to Blog the URGENT : PENGUNDI MELAYU KENA KELUAR UNDI SEKARANG at about 3:30 PM yesterday.
I am sad to say that I did sms some folks who should have known better and who were in a position to do something about this. But the reply I received was “Not true“.
Now here are some interesting facts. Before May 5th, Helen Ang – a most enlightened Chinese (in the Malaysian context, and to avoid doubts, this is a compliment Helen) blogged the following graph and made an observation that has played itself out completely yesterday. Here is the graph from Helen Ang :
In this graph, the horizontal coloured bands (blue, red, yellow, green) represent the demographic proportions (Malay, Chinese, Indians, Others). The percentages above the bands (beside the dots) represent the percentage of registered voters from a particular racial group.
What is clear is that in most states listed above, the percentage of registered voters who are Chinese exceeds the percentage of Chinese in the state. For example in Terengganu, Chinese make up only 2.6% of the population. But they make up 3.55% of registered voters.
This means the Chinese are diligent in registering as voters.
In the West coast states with larger Chinese populations, this assumes a different picture altogether. In Penang for example, Chinese are only 45.6% of the population. Logically they cannot win the elections by themselves. However in Penang, Chinese make up over 53.38% of registered voters.
The Malays make up over 45% of the total population in Penang. However Malays make up only 35.7% of registered voters in Penang. So even if all the 35.7% of voters who are Malays came out to vote, they will still lose to the Chinese.
So although the Malays are the majority race (or almost majority) in Penang, it is of no use to them politically because not enough Malays are registered voters to make them dominate at the Polls. What is the use of being the majority race if your people are not registered to vote? (Macam lelaki tak ada pelir lah).
The Chinese in Penang are in the minority but because more Chinese are registered to vote (compared to Malays) this means for practical purposes the Chinese are the majority. Not the Malays. More Chinese than Malays can vote in Penang.
This is even more drastic in Kuala Lumpur. Chinese make up 43.2% of the population of Kuala Lumpur. However 52.15% of registered voters in KL are Chinese. Malays on the other hand make up over 50% of the population in KL. However registered voters who are Malay make up 35.7% only.
So even before Polling Day, the registered Chinese voters have already outnumbered registered Malay voters both in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese have already won over the Malays even before Parliament was dissolved.
