– 9 MAY 2013POSTED IN: GE13 MALAYSIA, MALAYSIA
Speaking at a news conference a day after the release of the results of the recent Malaysian general elections, Prime Minister Najib Razak stressed that: “On the whole, the people’s decision this time shows a trend of voting polarization…This worries the government, because if it’s not handled well, it could spark tension.” These comments were made in light of the premier’s knee-jerk observation that the increasingly politicised Chinese community have now swung towards the opposition unlike Malays who are firmly in support of the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Compelling as such reasoning can be, Najib Razak’s reflex reaction towards BN’s worst defeat since 1969 masks the deeper nuances of voting patterns and trends in Malaysia. While the results of the 13th general elections (GE13) provides evidence that the Chinese-Malay divide in Malaysian politics have indeed manifest itself at the ballot box, there are other developments within the Malay populace in the country that have become more apparent and may follow a more protracted course in the coming years.
The rural-urban divide is the most obvious phenomenon that has emerged among the Malay electorate. Cash, food and other gifts dished out by the BN to the rural Malays, coupled by the promise of more development projects have yielded expected outcomes in terms of the strong support shown by the rural Malays for the party. While such carrot and stick tactics worked well with the rural folk – at least for this year’s elections – and have found expression in terms of BN’s victory in rural parts of Malaysia, Malays in urban areas showed opposing reactions. Good governance, fair and clean elections and putting an end to corruption are issues that the establishment have found difficult to address to meet up with rising expectations of the urban Malays. The upshot of this is declining Malay support in urban towns such as Kota Laksamana (Malacca), Kota Alam Shah (Selangor) and Pasir Bedamar (Perak).
The elections also signalled the looming decline of the old-generation communal-based religious elites in place of young, pluralistic and dynamic preachers and activists in politics. The defeats suffered by the once-famed Mohamad Sabu, Haron Din dan Husam Musa of the Islamic party, PAS, are clear indications of this. Even though the rising BN ulama, Ustaz Fathul Bari, had lost his bid to win over Sanglang, the thin margin of 121 votes clearly showed that the Malays are open to accepting a new crop of urbanite members from the laity into the parliament. Nik Abduh Nik Aziz’s easy win over Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali drives this point home and much more.
The complete wipe-out of Perkasa in the elections by two PAS candidates bears testimony that Malays in Malaysia are generally not keen on extreme racialised politics, particularly the kind promoted by the BN old-guards. Indeed, given a choice between Islamised politics with an eye towards building a multicultural Malaysia to one that advocates Malay dominance at the expense of other races in the country, Malays are keen to see the former in place.
Celebrating multiculturalism does not however entail an easy acceptance of celebrities in politics. The losses suffered by two all-time favourites in the Malaysian entertainment industry, Wan Aishah of PAS and Dayangku Intan of PKR, sends a strong message to Pakatan Rakyat that Malay politics have matured beyond the lure of superstars. What Malays want which have somewhat fell on deaf ears are people who can deliver beyond sound and fury. For most Malays, it is the candidates’ ability to manage their respective constituencies rather than their vocal cords that colour their voting behavior.
Above all, Malay voting patterns in GE13 exhibited a strong predisposition towards political families. Sons, daughters and those who share familial ties with known politicians on either side of the political spectrum gained much headway in their respective constituencies with Mukhriz Mahathir clinching the Ayer Hitam seat for the BN and sworn in as the Menteri Besar of Kedah. Nur Izzah Anwar Ibrahim, in turn, slayed a BN giant for the second time at Lembah Pantai, enhancing her image as the “Princess of Reform” and soon-to-be Leader of the PKR. These two significant examples, along with Nik Abduh Nik Aziz and, to a lesser extent, Khairy Jamaludin, make obvious the fact that emotional bonds between Malay leaders in Malaysia could easily be passed on from one generation to another, influencing Malay voting patterns during the elections.
Najib Razak openly mentioned that his new government “will undertake a process of national reconciliation so we can set aside any extremism and communalism with policies based on moderation.” The recent election has shown to us that the point made by the Prime Minister is rather belated. Malays in Malaysia have and will continually move along the path of moderation, shunning the extremist and communalist tendencies that are bound to emerge along the way. GE13 has laid bare the end of money politics and made it plainly obvious that the days of old school racial politics are numbered. The new breed of Malays have their eyes now set on cosmopolitan leaders, regardless of which party they are from, leaders whose forebears have had Malay interests in mind and, above and beyond that, the interests of all Malaysians at heart.
Dr. Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied is an assistant professor at the Department of Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore.
The measure of a statesman is determined by their reaction to critical situations - especially in scenarios where he is leading a highly divided demographic - and Najib had just undone all the work he had undertaken in his four years, including his coining of the ‘1Malaysia’ slogan- with his horrible gaffe in branding the election results on Sunday as a result of a "Chinese tsunami".
Anyone who had followed Malaysian politics for long enough knows what he was referring to - though the million dollar question is whether Najib knows the kind of conversation he is creating with his statement.
The survey carried out among voters in peninsular Malaysia between April 28 to May 2 also placed Pakatan Rakyat ahead of BN in terms of the favoured party to form the government.
他说，首次来马来西亚时就认识李凯伦。当时，他接触两群不一样的人，即马华公会与李凯伦的动力青年（Y4C），而看到马来西亚的两种未来。
梁文道举例，大约4年前在著名时事评论人杨白杨家里，一起通过电视收看示威的新闻。但是，转了几个电视台都看不到。
梁文道表示，当一个政权来到了动用水炮镇压示威者，花钱请饭叫人投票给它的地步，它就已经输掉了。
尽管如此，梁文道（左图）在问答环节受询时坦承，一旦未如预期中推翻威权统治，民众或陷入沮丧或愤怒的局面。
针对另一名民众表示，担心属于少数群体的华裔权益在民主化中被削弱，梁文道表示，不曾听到任何美国华人提出类似担忧。而事实上，大马政府虚构的种族分裂，是为了捍卫自身的霸权。
The ceramah at an outdoor car park of a shopping mall at Gelang Patah pulled in some 70,000 Chinese-majority crowd, breaking the attendance of 60,000 people recorded the previous night at the same venue.
It was a clear sign of the overwhelming support of the Chinese electorate in southern Johor as many came from neighbouring constituencies such as Kulai, Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang and Pulai, which Pakatan aims to wrest from the BN in this general election.
From the plate number of cars parked around the ceramah venues, it is believed that a significant number of participants were outstation voters who had returned home to vote on Sunday.
"Some civil servants told me they are worried because Chinese now are more persistent in politics... Why are you afraid of him? Because he is smart? Because he is brave? Because he is assertive? Or because he works hard?
Speaking to the crowd in Gelang Patah, Anwar urged them to prove Mahathir wrong by voting for Kit Siang.
