DAP spurns BN rural area focus notion
DAP strategist says 70 percent of Malaysia’s population are in semi- or fully-urbanised areas.
Hawkeye, FMT
A DAP leader has rubbished the notion that Umno should focus on rural areas in the view that Barisan Nasional (BN) continues to receive support from voters in such localities since the conclusion of the May 5 general election.
DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong said 70 percent of the country’s growing population are already living in areas classified as semi- or fully-urbanise.
In an interview, he said 60% of the traditional Malay villagers are now also situated in urbanise areas based on the population census 2010.
Liew, who is also the Kluang MP, was responding to a call by former Kelantan Umno elections director Tuan Hashim Tuan Yaakob for Umno to shift its presence in urbanise areas to rural districts where voters have shown a strong support for BN despite the rise of Pakatan Rakyat in the last two elections.
The call was made after the conclusion of the Kuala Besut state by-election in Terengganu this month where BN retained the seat with a higher majority.
Among others, Thailand was cited as an example where former premier Thaksin Shinawatra continues to enjoy popular political support due to his devotion to help the rural community in most of the country’s 76 provinces.
To this, Liew said Malaysia is certainty not Thailand because the former’s rural areas are shrinking fast due to the rapid development rate.
It is believed that Malaysia is seeing record projects of land clearing as there is a demand for plantations, exploration for logging or mining prospects, and housing.
Liew said within the next five years, the urban community is expected to grow in tandem with the population growth and economic push for highly skilled workers.
“There might not be large tracts of rural land left in the next several years. The country’s development push is naturally moving into our hinterland.”
Umno should focus on what the voters are craving for, which is zero tolerance for corruption and advocating transparency to be underpinned by good governance standards instead of just settling on consolidating support in the rural areas, he said.
There is also a need to adopt equality standards at the expense of racialism as this is needed to drive the country forward, said Liew.
