What Should Barisan Nasional Do To Win Back Chinese Voters?

The Chinese community in Malaysia must realise that all public policies are tailored towards the greater good of all Malaysians regardless of races and religious creed, not just for the [Chinese] community.

Teh Wei Soon, Malaysian Digest

“USHERING in the Chinese New Year, I hope that the Chinese community will come back to support the government again,” Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi wishes during the recent Chinese New Year Open House organized by the MCA on 8 January, putting this long contentious issue that has been a thorn in the ruling coalition back into the spotlight.

Many other BN leaders have also touched on this subject in recent months, perhaps taking the opportunity of the Chinese New Year celebrations to address this sore point among BN leaders.

Even the newly appointed Kedah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah states that he intends to help BN garner Chinese support in Kedah.

“It is the hope of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that BN will be able to regain the support of the Chinese community,” Ahmad Bashah stated, New Straits Times reported.

Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir has even raised this issue last month when he said he would never give up Chinese votes although many say Barisan Nasional should not lay any hope on Chinese voters in the coming general elections, reported Sin Chew Daily.

Zambry noted that he did not believe in the so-called surveys and studies, and that no one should conclude that Malaysian Chinese would no longer support the incumbent ruling coalition, stressing that he will work with all the voters and would not marginalise any community, including the Chinese.

Nevertheless, surveys have revealed that the Chinese have lost confidence in the government in recent years, owing to a general belief that the country’s leaders have alienated them in their quest to stay ahead in the political game. This was reflected in the public opinion survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center released earlier last year, which showed a dip in happiness felt by the Chinese towards the government.

So, will our BN leaders recent festive wishes remain just a hopeful dream or can the ruling coalition gain back ground they have lost with the Chinese voters in Malaysia?

The Chinese-majority component parties in the BN coalition have long recognized the Herculean task ahead of them with the MCA already announcing last month that it had already drawn up its list of potential GE14 candidates with the MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai stating that the party has to get an early jumpstart to ensure a higher chance of success.

“I wanted to announce this earlier because we need to move earlier and faster and we need to prepare at the grassroots level first. Because in the past we always announced it too late, close to elections time and there is no time for the grassroots and division leaders to do their work more effectively,” he said.

Malaysian Digest decided to take a closer look at this issue which will surely crop up again once the election fever gets going for GE14 which must be held by 2018.

Recalling The ‘Chinese Tsunami’ In GE13

Barisan Nasional, led by the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was re-elected for the 13th time in a row in the 2013 general election (GE13) in which the party won a majority of seats in parliament – 133 out of 222, against 89 for the opposition, a three-party coalition called Pakatan Rakyat and led by Anwar Ibrahim.

The overriding sense is of relief within BN as it did slightly better in terms of seats than some had predicted. Scratch the surface, however, and in almost every respect this was a less than impressive result for the ruling coalition, its worst ever.

Not only did it lose a further seven seats to Pakatan, but it won with only 47% of the popular vote. It is further evidence of how the electoral system is skewed in Barisan’s favour, allowing it to stack up seats in the rural Malay heartlands with far fewer voters than Pakatan needs to win seats in more urban areas. In many places the Opposition increased large majorities.

Most striking was that the ethnic Chinese shifted their votes away from Barisan towards the Opposition in the widely touted ‘Chinese tsunami’ as reported in the media. The Chinese party of the Barisan coalition, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), won just seven seats, down from 15, whereas the opposition’s mainly Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) picked up ten seats, for a final tally of 38.

In the 2013 general election, the total numbers of eligible Chinese voters were 3.94 million. In Penang, they constitute 53.3% of total voters and in Kuala Lumpur 52.2% of the total voters are of Chinese origin. Even though by population the Chinese constitute about 22.56% of the total population in Malaysia but by the number of voters their strength is 29.68% of the total 13.3 million voters in Malaysia.

Having said that, the reason the Chinese swung overwhelmingly in favour of PR in the last general election was largely due to the Opposition promises that a change could champion their interests in meritocracy and equality as well as reduce corruption.

“BN Needs To Address The Long-Standing Requests By The Chinese”

The battle for Chinese support is best exemplified by the sentiments of the Chinese voter in the state of Penang.

Teng: “The Chinese generally reward the government with electoral support for three matters namely quality education, fairer economic opportunities and good governance.”

In an interview with Malaysian Digest, Penang State Barisan Nasional Chairman, Teng Chang Yeow (pic) asserted that the BN will need to address the long-drawn issues within the Chinese community with greater efforts and commitment in order to win back the support of the Chinese community in the country.

“To regain the support of Chinese voters, BN must address the long-standing requests from them with greater efforts and commitment.  The Chinese generally reward the government with electoral support for three matters namely quality education, fairer economic opportunities and good governance,” Teng said.

Acknowledging that BN experienced a fall in support from the Chinese in the past general election, he remarked: “The Chinese community wants the political parties to address any issues with sincerity and commitment. If BN fails to reverse the voting trend [of the Chinese] which leaned towards the Opposition, it would be a difficult task for them to win back Chinese votes.”

“Although there has been much effort made by the incumbent government, but I think by and large, the Chinese seem to remain ungrateful.

“This might be because they could not feel the sincerity, commitment and seriousness portrayed by the ruling party. They view all efforts as election-driven and not solution-driven.  That’s the perception. BN fails to address that perception,” said Teng, who also serves as the Secretary General of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan).

Commenting further on the matter, he noted: “BN must thrash out political and economic problems if they want to be relevant, cohesive and competitive in Malaysian politics in which the ruling coalition has no choice but to confront the challenges head-on.”

Teng, however, concluded that the Chinese community in Malaysia must realise that all public policies are tailored towards the greater good of all Malaysians regardless of races and religious creed, not just for the [Chinese] community.

“The Incumbent Government Cannot Put The Blame On The People For Not Supporting Them”

There is no way BN can win back the support from the Chinese community, at this point, if UMNO leaders persist in their ways and remain lackadaisical on finding solution to rectify the leadership issue in the party, said a local political analyst.

Dr Ahmad Atory: “Unless BN is all set to revamp its leadership, their chance to seek a turnaround and regain the confidence from the Chinese is almost zero to none.”

Prof Dr Ahmad Atory Hussain (pic), a senior lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is pessimistic that Barisan Nasional can regain the support from the Chinese voters in next general elections as more Malaysians, not only the Chinese, have grown more disillusioned with the party.

“There is no denying that the leadership issue in the party is increasingly dire. There is nothing much BN can do [to win back Chinese voters]. It is almost impossible, at least for the time being. However, if the ruling coalition is really committed in doing so, they should take matters of public interest to heart.

“The incumbent government cannot put the blame on the people for not supporting them. Instead, they should find out what are the reasons which caused the party to lose its popularity,” he told Malaysian Digest.

Dr Ahmad further stressed: “They should push for good governance. They need to display some real leadership in addressing people-oriented issues such as the high cost of living, the increase in unemployment rate, poor economic situation and high crime rates, among others.”

“Unless BN is all set to revamp its leadership, their chance to seek a turnaround and regain the confidence from the Chinese is almost zero to none,” he concluded.

“In Politics, You Can’t Bargain Without Having Leverage” – Chinese Voters Speak Their Minds

In order to find out what do the Chinese voters want from the ruling coalition, Malaysian Digest randomly polled several people from different states for their honest opinions.

Ooi Kok Hin (pic, below), a research analyst in Penang Institute, said BN needs to acknowledge that the decline of Chinese votes is a structural problem.

“In the past, the BN power-sharing structure was effective to the extent that there was no “electable” viable alternative. In that context, people are more willing to subscribe to the communal and elite power-sharing structure which preserves the status quo. But since 2008, this rule no longer applies.

“Minorities, in particular, now believe that they don’t have to accept the status quo in the presence of an opposition which present themselves, however incoherent at times, as an alternative government in waiting. The power-sharing structure therefore increasingly loses its appeal. Who wants to vote for someone to be a representative in the status quo when what they want is to change the status quo? And that is what the opposition is offering them,” he opined.

Ooi: “So far BN ministers still think and function based on the old power-sharing structure, making statements such as ‘Don’t make demands unless you vote for BN’.”

Ooi further stressed: “Therefore, the direct implication of the rejection of power-sharing status quo is that MCA’s role as the mediator and community representative are losing ground, however important it may be to have a multiracial governing coalition. BN needs to understand that voters are not rejecting MCA or MIC per se, they are rejecting the power-sharing structure which preserves status quo.”

“BN needs to fight based on the post-2008 terrain and acknowledge that what has worked so well in the past may not apply now. With the decline of the power-sharing status quo, BN should seriously consider to merge as one party if it is to preserve its multiracial appeal, which has given them much legitimacy.

He added: “Unless the structural problem is corrected, BN’s minority parties will continue to be rejected along the power-sharing status quo to the point that they no longer have a say or appeal even among their own component parties. In politics, you can’t bargain without having leverage.

“So far BN ministers still think and function based on the old power-sharing structure, making statements such as “Don’t make demands unless you vote for BN”. Young BN leaders especially, who are more sensitive and aware of this development, should lead the call for BN to replace its communal and elite power-sharing structure and become a big-tent party,” he asserted.

Quay Shi Seng, 58, a civil engineer from Segamat, Johor, said there are reasons why the Chinese community leaned towards the Opposition in the last general election, saying that the roots of this go back to the feelings of alienation from unfair economic opportunities, race-based politics and public policies which are not people-oriented.

“If BN wants to shore up the support from the non-Malay voters, they should come out with measures that have driven a wedge between the different races in the country. They need to show their sincerity, instead of ad hoc strategies that are designed to woo the voters during election,” Quay opined.

“Long story short, they need to be more inclusive and fulfil all their election pledges at all costs,” he said.

With the Opposition having no effective leader at the present, BN should seize the moment to gain back lost ground and weaken the Opposition’s hold on the Chinese votes but the crucial step is to convert hopeful wishes and intentions to actual actions that can reverberate to the grassroots.

As Penang State Barisan Nasional Chairman, Teng so aptly put it: “It’s high time for BN to take the bull by the horns and resolve the brewing political and economic problems. They need to be more inclusive and people-oriented regardless of races in order to regain the support from the Chinese community.”