What after the by-elections?
Sin Chew Daily
Both Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar are Malay-predominant constituencies. As a result, Umno and PAS will harness the racial and religious cards to win the elections while Pakatan Harapan banks on issues such as 1MDB, RM2.6 billion political donations as well as Mahathir to woo the Malay voters.
Which between race/religion and “anti-Najib” issues will eventually have the day?
If Umno wins big or PAS clinches a surprise victory in both constituencies, they will very likely adopt a more conservative roadmap in the future. However, if Amanah wins, or Umno loses either of the two seats, Najib will invariably come under tremendous pressure from within his own party although this is unlikely to unseat him from office anytime soon.
The two by-elections this month have opened our eyes to some not-so-positive trends in Malaysian politics. First of all Umno has given the go-ahead for PAS president Hadi Awang to table his private member’s bill on hudud in the Parliament. This is followed by a strongly racist PAS Muktamar, attesting to the fact that the Islamist party not only strengthens its religious appeals but has also adopted a more racist approach in a bid to compete for rural support with Umno.
Many say PAS has been able to forward the private bill in Dewan Rakyat thanks to its increased strength, which is not true. Having discovered after 2013 general elections that Malay voters have turned their backs against the party and amidst concerns among rural Malays of its tie-up with DAP, PAS has opted to abandon its “PAS for all” slogan as it leans towards Umno and the eventual goal of an Islamic state.
PAS also feels that religious card alone will not be sufficient for it to fight Umno’s racist card and has therefore decided to accentuate its racist hue in the recent Muktamar.
If PAS believed it was becoming increasingly powerful within Pakatan Rakyat, why on earth did it choose to revert to the erstwhile conservative path? The party should have enough confidence to march its way towards Putrajaya come the next general elections.
This is the zero-sum game in the Malaysian politics. As Umno gains in the number of seats, PAS’ support base will invariably be eroded.
But Umno is not getting any better either. The party finds itself fighting hard against the repercussions of 1MDB and Najib’s political donations, and as such needs to have a part in the hudud game.
As for Pakatan, Amanah is thrown into a big dilemma given the fact it needs the Malay votes badly. Why is the party so afraid of displaying its openness vis-à-vis Umno and PAS? Because the party is yet to be able to alter the political mindset of the Malays.
All these point to one fact that racist politics is still very much in charge in this country. Malay-based political parties have been relying heavily on racist politics for decades to cling on power, and for so many years racism along with religious ideologies have made their way into the very core of Malay thinking and culture to an extent no political parties are able or willing to change.
Since independence the country’s political path has not been getting broader but narrower by the year. In the face of a potential crisis, our political leaders will tend to act like drowners, unabatedly clinging onto the floating plank which is racism and religious extremism, as they struggle to stay afloat, plunging the political environment of the country into a bigger chaos in so doing.
Malaysian politicians are more opportunistic than their counterparts elsewhere. For example, PKR has reservations about dumping PAS for fear of losing Malay votes. As the opposition parties are afraid to bring themselves out of the confines of racist politics, they have to take the opportunistic approach, rendering their national reform pledges an unrealized empty talk.
How is Pakatan going to save this country if it opts to dance to the tune of Umno/PAS? Unfortunately, as observed from the choice of candidates in the upcoming by-elections, we can see that Amanah is trying to play safe and avert a hard crash.
Whatever the outcome will be, one thing is for certain: none of the political parties can alter the big picture and deliver the country out of racist and religious politics.
If Umno loses some of the Malay votes, this might illustrate the fact that Mahathir still has some influences in the Malay society, but even then a core idea is unchanging — the Malay supremacy. Even if Najib were to step down from office some day, whoever takes over his job will still steer Umno down the racist path.
Racist politics is the root of the nation’s dilemma. It has seriously distorted the country’s administrative systems. We only need to take a peek into neighboring Singapore to understand how true this is.
To bring the nation out of the current doldrums, we need to set our sights far and wide. Can we find a new path for the country after the two by-elections this month?
