The false race for Malayness
The premise not enough Malays support Pakatan is a red herring. There are not enough Malays behind Umno too in this regard.
Praba Ganesan, The Malay Mail Online
Here’s the detractors’ claim.
It’s not a Malay-led government as much as it is a Malay-adorned government.
A range of brown on the outside, but all migrant inside.
This is the thread of right wingers. Malays are under the thumb of outsiders, albeit Malaysian “outsiders.”
There are Malay leaders on top, but they are different from previous Malay leaders, as key positions pass to non-Malays while they submit to the will of the “others” rather than being Malay-first.
How did they arrive at this conclusion?
On the assertion Pakatan Harapan did not snag a majority of the Malay votes at the last election.
The preliminary breakdown of the Semenanjung votes shows Malay or Muslim voters divided their support to Umno, PAS and Pakatan — PKR, Pribumi or Amanah — and the remaining non-Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Pakatan.
With a third of Muslim votes and most of the non-Muslims with them, Pakatan forged ahead to win enough seats and overthrow Barisan Nasional. Even Lim Kit Siang’ special aide said as much, about the lack of majority Muslim support.
Therefore, the accusation is that this is a government not backed by Malays as a whole.
This is the central message of the Umno “rise from the ashes” campaign. It’s currently being trialled at the Sungai Kandis by-election.
It is powerful for two reasons; it is visceral and Pakatan is filled with leaders without experience to counter it.
What is meant by the latter is that they are constantly on the defensive because they seek to placate an assumed Malay segment alienated from them.
