SEREMBAN: Pakatan Harapan has accepted its defeat in the Negri Sembilan election, with Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari highlighting that the 11 seats it had won showed that the coalition still retains voter support.
The Pakatan election director, however, condemned the heavy reliance on divisive, identity-driven politics during the campaign period.
"This extraordinary racist campaign only breeds long-term anxiety and suspicion between Malays and non-Malays," he told reporters Saturday (Aug 1).
He criticised opponents for abandoning bread-and-butter issues like the economy, job creation, education, and the rising cost of living in favour of racial rhetoric, calling it a step backward for both the state and the nation.
Amirudin said identity-based politics dominated a major part of the campaign, especially in Malay-majority areas.
"This trend is a highly worrying one for national politics," he said, adding that Pakatan still enjoyed support from the Malay community and this was evident from its defeats in certain seats such as Pilah where it lost by about 700 votes.
"There are Malay majority seats where we lost by 1,000 or 2,000 votes. so it is not true that the Malays completely rejected us," he said.
Amirudin said Pakatan's opponents main campaign fodder was about the importance of Malay unity and the DAP was its punching bag.
Amirudin said it was also sad that some voters did not look at the performance of the previous state government which brought in record investments, service to the public and created thousands of jobs.
Citing an example, he said Pakatan's manifesto had many pledges for the benefit of the people but this was never discussed or talked about.
Asked who should take responsibility for Pakatan's consecutive losses in the Johor and Negri Sembilan elections, Amirudin said it was a collective responsibility.
"We are not going to point fingers at anyone. Everyone takes responsibility, from the top to the bottom," he said.
Former mentri besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun, who was also present, said he accepted the voter's verdict.
"I showed them my report card for the past eight years but probably it wasn't good enough.
"In any contest, there will be a winner and a loser so I am accepting my defeat with an open heart," he said.
Aminuddin said he was glad that he succeeded in educating a large section of the youth to shift their mindset from focusing solely on racial performance to focusing on performance.
"For me, I have educated the youth, and I see positive development.
"I have no regrets because what matters most is educating our nation’s children to move away from the fear-mongering that makes them only care about race," he said, adding that he had no regrets for choosing to stand in Linggi which was a Barisan nasional fortress as there was no guarantee that he could win in Sikamat where he first won in 2008.
Amanah communications director Khalid Abdul Samad who was also present expressed regret that Pakatan's campaign which was based on its performance was not well received.
"As mentioned earlier, it is the issue of identity politics, where the narrative is that the Malays must unite to face threats, specifically from DAP," he said.
This, he said, led to the Malays to vote based on the sentiment of fear while the question of actual performance received absolutely no attention.
