Race based politics will continue colouring Malaysian politics

by Theleaders-Online | August 28, 2019 8:58 am

GOMBAK: Race based politics is a reality which will continue to colour Malaysian politics for at least another decade, said forum panelists at a talk entitled “Post-GE14 By-Elections: Implications for GE15.”

This can be seen from the resurgence of identity politics, said Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, and translated into Umno – PAS cooperation which resulted in a hattrick of by – election victories for BN.

This was in reference to Cameron Highlands, Rantau and Semenyih by-elections.

“By-elections won’t determine the next general election but these by-elections have determined the flavour of what’s to come. When you are Umno and PAS and realise that this (cooperation) may be a winning formula, you are going to stick to it.

“After Cameron Highlands, Semenyih and Rantau — that’s when Umno and PAS accelerated their marriage. Very soon there will be a charter announced by PAS-Umno and that is a direct result of the by-elections.

“That will determine the flavour of the general election because what’s to come is that it will be a general election based on identity politics.

“It’s not what I like, I think you can win from centre that’s why I am cast out by Umno,” he said adding that he does not believe Malaysia will see the end of identity politics in his lifetime.

He also said that the BN-PAS combination would have won an additional 30 parliament constituencies had they initiated the cooperation prior to the 14^th general election.

The additional 30 seats would give an edge to BN with 127 seats out of a total of 222 seats.

He however cautioned that the above factors were inadequate to predict the 15^th general election as there are new factors such as lowered voting age to 18, automated voter registration and “Malaysian’s short memory.”

Bersatu supreme leadership council member Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Arif, who shared the floor with Khairy, echoed the latter’s sentiments.

Rais believed that the Umno – PAS union scheduled in a fortnight would fortify race based politics and place policies, economy and centrist politics on a reverse gear by five years.

“I think we will have identity politics for the next two general elections. With PAS and Umno coming together, it will be nothing but identity politics. We need to be patient again. I am with Khairy on this, I like the centrist approach.

“We would like to have it but not in next two general elections,” said Rais who also warned that the government would fall if GE15 is held tomorrow.[1]

Khairy also pointed out that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had a chance of bringing an end to race-based politics when he set up PPBM.

However, he observed that Dr Mahathir had created a party similar to Umno which is a Malay-based party and reflected how the world’s oldest elected official’s thinking on how Malaysians view political issues — which is from an ethnic perspective.

At the same time, he added that this situation is not unique to Malaysia.

“Race-based politics. It’s always going to be there I think. When Dr M left Umno he had a chance to set up a new party and he set up a party like Umno — Malay based party, that reflects Dr Maharthir’s thinking on how Malaysians view political issues — from ethnic perspective.

“That isn’t going to change much in our lifetimes. This isn’t just unique to Malaysia, I don’t want you to think that Malaysia is racist country. This happens everywhere, even in liberal Western democracies.

“You don’t have race-based parties but you can see race-based decision in voting patterns,” said Khairy.

He also praised PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for having the courage to set up PKR as a multiracial party but at the same time, Anwar’s strength is also his greatest weakness as it allows the Malay-based parties ammunition to attack him.

Tindak Malaysia analyst, Danesh Prakash Chacko also agreed with his two panelists that identity-politics is here to stay but did not blame political parties.

Instead, Danesh said that the failure falls on the shoulders of the voters who preferred the race-based parties instead of a more central approach.

“The best chance we had to do that was in Semenyih. It offered two race-based parties (PPBM and Umno) as opposed to one left wing (PSM) and one humanitarian (independent) but the majority voted for the two race-based parties.

“That is not the failure of Malaysian political parties but the failure of the voters,” said Danesh.

Source URL: https://theleaders-online.com/race-based-politics-will-continue-colouring-malaysian-politics/

---