Can PH-UMNO’s very own ‘red wave’ topple PN-PAS’ ‘green wave’?
It is now obvious that PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang has realised that its PN coalition partner Bersatu is of little use to PAS after a number of Muhyiddin’s scandals have come out in the open.
(Focus Malaysia) – BASED on the past performance of PAS in the last two general elections, it is obvious that there may be no ‘green wave’ at all.
Contrary to what has always been touted as ‘green wave’ – or even ‘green tsunami’ as an exaggeration – it appears that this temporary hype in the number of seats won by the Islamist Party in the 15th general election (GE15) could well be the result of Malays abandoning UMNO.
Bearing in mind the number of major scandals involving its party leaders, Malay fence-sitters who were more likely to lean towards UMNO rather than Pakatan Harapan (PH) would have opted for Perikatan Nasional (PN) instead.
A number of Malay voters we have spoken before the GE15 had indicated that they were shifting their votes to PN. They are saying – even now – that they cannot trust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Despite Anwar being the preferred choice picked by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) to form the unity government, they would adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude.
Whether UMNO will be able to win back the middle ground depends on its internal party reforms to get its house back in order.
In 2018, when PAS was together with Gagasan Sejahtera and late with PN under the leadership of Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, it won only 18 parliamentary seats.
However, the number of seats jumped to 49 in GE15 – the most won by a political party contesting in GE15 with DAP coming in second with 40 – making it appear as if PAS had whipped up the green wave.
In the states where state elections were held simultaneously with GE15, the big difference had only happened in Perlis, Perak and Pahang which were traditionally UMNO strongholds.
The electoral win in Perlis, for example, was the result of the influence of former UMNO strongman Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim. The same can be said about Pahang and Perak where Malay votes had shifted from UMNO to PN.
In the other four states, which remained Barisan Nasional and UMNO’s strongholds – Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Johor – PAS failed to win any seats.
It is now obvious that PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang has realised that its PN coalition partner Bersatu is of little use to PAS after a number of Muhyiddin’s scandals have come out in the open.
The moment Muhyiddin lost his power base, he and several others – including his party’s former information chief and Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan – were immediately charged by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
It gels now why MACC’s commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki’s term was extended by another year by Anwar without his deputy Rafizi Ramli making a noise.
As Azam was willing to go after the cases that were probably placed under “NFA” (an acronym used for “No Further Action”) during Muhyiddin’s tenure as the country’s eighth prime minister, Anwar saw no reason to remove him. After all, any new person put in place may not necessarily be able to perform to expectations.
In this regard, it can be argued that the so-called ‘green wave’ phenomenon was in fact an abandonment of UMNO supporters and fence-sitters towards the party they had once supported.
