Making sense of a Malay dominant Opposition

CITIZENS’ videos from the delayed election in Padang Serai sent tremors all over.

Images of the youthful, all-Malay crowd coming out for Perikatan Nasional have signalled the coalition’s grip on Malay hearts and minds, and the green wave is set to sweep beyond the Malay heartland.

With Padang Serai under its belt, Perikatan now controls 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah and 74 seats in Parliament, making it an Opposition that cannot be ignored.

On the final night of the Padang Serai campaign, Perikatan supporters on their motorcycles jammed up the town and the police had to be called in to clear the way for Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail who were on their way to a Unity Government ceramah.

A journalist who arrived at the home of the winner Datuk Azman Nasrudin at about 8pm had to squeeze through a throng of jubilant Perikatan supporters who punctured the air with cries of “takbir” and “Allahuakbar”.

What happened in Padang Serai eclipsed the outcome in Tioman where Barisan Nasional would have lost without help from its new partner, Pakatan Harapan.

“PAS has fired up the Malay Undi18 group,” said the journalist.

Azman or Cikgu Azman, as he is better known, will now join an almost entirely Malay-Muslim Opposition bench where only Beluran MP Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee and Saratok MP Dato Ali Biju are non-Muslims.

The Opposition’s mono-ethnic face is something new to Parliament.

It has raised questions whether it will harp on race and religion and if DAP will continue to be its target or if policy, legislation and issues will be its focus.

“The thing is that we now represent the Malay voice. We won 56% of the Malay votes and we are in charge of four Malay heartland states.

“We have to be vocal on issues that are important to them, protecting the religion is important to our base,” said Selangor PAS secretary Roslan Shahir.

PAS has emerged as the single biggest party with 49 MPs, followed by DAP with 40 and PKR with 31. Umno has 26 MPs and Bersatu 25 MPs.

PAS has also replaced Umno as the party of choice among Malay voters.

Managing public perception will be crucial and the decision to make Larut MP and former home minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin the next Opposition Leader will help to moderate the Opposition image.

Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had turned down the post and offered it to PAS which decided to back Hamzah.

It also seems like a strategic move because Hamzah and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim are nemeses with a problematic history dating back to their days in Umno.

“Pakatan is trying to portray us as some Taliban group although our aim is to be a good opposition. If the policy is good for the rakyat we will give our views to make it better.

“We won’t be like DAP, opposing just for the sake of opposing. That is not us, we will respect sensitive issues,” said Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

Ahmad Faizal, who gave the new Prime Minister a run for his money in Tambun, is also skeptical that the confidence vote for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim may actually happen.

“Let’s see who gets to be the next Speaker of Parliament - our choice (Tan Sri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad) or their choice (Datuk Johari Abdul),” said Ahmad Faizal.

Anwar is aware of what he is up against and this was evident at his very first Cabinet meeting.

His gesture towards padi farmers was to signal that although Pakatan won on the strength of largely urban and Chinese support, he would not neglect the Malay working class.

Pressing the rice import monopolist Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary to dish out millions of ringgit via Bernas to the farmers is great optics.

Scaling down on special lottery draws is an arrow directed at PAS which kept silent when the previous government increased the special draws from eight to 22 times a year.

But the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of the whopping RM600bil in public funds by the previous government is an arrow aimed at Perikatan leader Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Perception is a dangerous thing in politics and everyone could see that money flowed like water for Perikatan during the general election.

Videos on social media added to the impression and there were questions about where the money was coming from.

“All politicians have baggage. I see it as a warning shot to the Opposition bench but this RM600bil issue is not purely about politics.

“We have been hearing about it for some time. It is too serious to overlook, it needs to be investigated,” said political commentator Dr Azmi Omar.

The election campaign is over but the politicking is still as intense as ever.

An ethnically-mixed government bench face-to-face with an almost entirely Malay-Muslim opposition may sound like a recipe for trouble.

But it is also an illuminating moment for Malaysia, that no single race can form the government on its own and parties that represent all races ought to have a brighter future than mono-ethnic parties.