BN, Pakatan breakdown may lead to racial, religious splits, Canadian journalist warns
(Malay Mail Online) – The fracture of political coalitions on both sides of the divide may deepen racial and religious strife in Malaysia as Umno and PAS compete for the Malay-Muslim vote, a Canadian journalist wrote today.
Iain Marlow, Asia-Pacific correspondent at The Globe and Mail, noted in his column that the infighting in Malay nationalist party Umno and the ending of the alliance between Islamist opposition party PAS and secular party DAP in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lead to further divisions in Malaysia’s racial politics.
“There is also a very real possibility that the fracturing of the parties — some of which are based on faith or ethnicity — could divide Malaysian politics and politicians even further by race and religion; this could eventually slide into pandering toward certain groups or regions with crass, discriminatory policies, in a country where the Malay majority has already benefited from preferential hiring over Chinese and Indian populations,” Marlow said in his article titled “Malaysian PM has squandered his chance to be a regional leader.”
Marlow also quoted University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research assistant professor Kai Ostwald as saying that such rifts in Umno were not new, but noted that it would now have a greater impact on minority groups in Malaysia amid the breakdown of PR, as a “Malay-first agenda” would now be prioritised and concessions made on Islamic law.
“Malaysia is one of the true (Southeast Asian) success stories from a developmental perspective,” Marlow quoted Ostwald as saying. “It’s too big of a ship to suddenly sink, but this is a genuine crisis that undoes much of the hard-fought progress of the past decade or two.”
Marlow also said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had lost his opportunity to be a leader in Southeast Asia amid issues like the Rohingya migrant crisis, noting that the Umno president consolidated his power base and clamped down on civil society instead after Barisan Nasional (BN) recorded its worst ever electoral performance in the 13th general election.
“Mr Najib squandered his chance to lead in the region and build a sense of shared responsibility for transnational issues,” he said.
PAS’ split from the DAP after the Islamist party renewed its push for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, which led to the breakup of PR, will likely see PAS focusing on its Malay-Muslim voter base in direct competition with Umno.
PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has acknowledged that his party will lose some support from Chinese voters, stressing that PAS will focus instead on their core Malay support.
“We contest in Malay areas; we have strength from Malay votes. If we can control this core vote, then it’s not impossible for PAS to win,” Tuan Ibrahim told PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily yesterday.
Critics have accused Umno of trying to “out-Islamise” PAS in a bid to win Malay-Muslim voters, even as government departments force visitors to put on sarongs over outfits deemed indecent based on their conservative dress codes.
Najib has also allocated billions in loans and programmes to the Bumiputeras, with the 11th Malaysia Plan mentioning the community specifically and targetting minimum Bumiputera ownership of corporate equities and percentage of high-skill jobs.
