Politics of anger no longer holds sway

Stoking voters’ rage is not a practical political tactic nowadays, at least in two Pahang seats the columnist explored.

DURING a recent “political tourism” road trip from Kuala Lumpur to Bera, Pahang, I noticed a difference in the “noise” coming from Chinese voters compared with what I heard leading up to the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018.

The difference lies in what I don’t hear now, with GE15 around the corner on Nov 19.

On the 170km journey passing through Bentong (stopped for breakfast) to Triang, the town centre of the Bera constituency, the chatter among the Chinese I met in kopitiam and restaurants was politics just like back then.

But I didn’t hear the anger.

During GE14 campaigning, the coffeeshop talk among the Chinese was angry.

They were cursing Barisan Nasional, which dominated Malaysian politics. The Opposition had successfully riled them up since 2008 about the “evils” of the coalition that had ruled for 60 years.

But on this trip, just like on my previous trips during the Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor (which Barisan regained with a 15,086 majority) and during Melaka and Johor state polls in 2021 and 2022 respectively, the anger had dissipated.

“When you talked about Barisan to them [in GE14], they cursed at you. They really hated it,” said a 40something Chinese businessman who votes in Bera.

The businessman explained that, in his opinion, the anger was about the 1MDB financial scandal, the Goods and Services tax, and just generally all things Barisan.

“But now it is easier to talk to them about Barisan. They have changed their mood. They are disappointed that their support [for Pakatan Harapan in GE14] did not turn out to be what they expected,” he said during lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Triang.

“When Pakatan was in government for 22 months, we saw no change. We had so much hope in them and thought there would be change.”

Earlier, during breakfast in a Chinese kopitiam in Bentong, Pahang, an environmentalist couple explained that they felt that they had been misled by Pakatan, which promised to fight issues close to their heart, like the closure of Lynas, a rare earth refinery near Kuantan that has been the centre of a controversy over pollution for years.

“It turned out that the Opposition was the same as the people they criticised. When they got into power, they became what they opposed,” the 40something wife said.

In GE14, DAP, a Pakatan coalition member, won Bentong with a 2,032 majority, and Barisan’s Umno got Bera with a 2,311 majority. A pollster surveying the Bentong and Bera seats told me that the Chinese ground has softened towards Barisan since then.

“They are now not angry,” the pollster said. “There’s not much to be angry about. The Opposition also cannot find issues to make them angry, unlike from 2008 to 2018,” he said.

But, he explained, while some Chinese voters might consider voting for Barisan, many would still vote for the Opposition or stay out of GE15.

“There are still the diehard Opposition voters. They have always been anti-Barisan.

The ones who are softening are the undecided voters who in GE13 and GE14 thought they were voting for Ubah,” he said, referring to the Pakatan slogan which means change.

“But Ubah did not happen.”

For Malay voters, the pollster said he has sensed an “ubah balik” (change back) among fencesitters away from Pakatan and towards Barisan or even the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

He predicted Bera incumbent and caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will retain his seat with a bigger majority.

“In the tsunami of GE14, Pakatan almost defeated him. But Ismail Sabri bucked the trend then. This time the fencesitters, including the Chinese voters who voted against him, are softening,” he said.

For the Bentong parliamentary seat, the pollster’s survey showed there is a sense of regret among some voters for voting out Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai, a former MCA president who was their MP from 1999 to 2018.

The environmentalist couple lamented that they are disappointed with Wong Tack, who they voted for in GE14.

“Even DAP knows that he didn’t perform as an MP. That is why they dropped him as a candidate,” the wife said.

To justify the party’s decision to drop Wong Tack, DAP secretary- general Anthony Loke revealed a survey that showed that the incumbent’s overall approval was 30% among Chinese voters, 19% among Malays and 61% among Indians.

For most of the voters I spoke to in Bentong and Bera, practicality has replaced emotion. They are no longer angry. They want to earn a living as times are hard.

“We just want a stable government which will allow us to survive this economic hardship,” said the businessman.

Rage is no longer a practical political tactic in these two Pahang seats. The politics of anger is so GE14.