Politicians playing on sentiments

“IS there a religious war on in Malaysia?” a 40-something friend I recently visited in Iloilo City in the Philippines asked me.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“That’s what I read in the news,” he said.

I explained to him that the religious and racial noises turning up in headlines are being made by politicians from both sides of the Malaysian political divide.

“Malaysians of all religions and races live in harmony, and their main worry in life is the rising cost of living. They just want to make a living,” I said.

I explained that some Malaysian politicians are ratcheting up fearmongering religious and racial rhetoric as Malaysia is facing crucial polls in six states on Aug 12, which could also affect the Federal Government.

“Will Anwar last as Prime Minister?” asked my friend, who is as updated on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as he is on the politics of Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“It all depends on the results of the six state polls. Let’s see where the Malay votes go,” I said.

We talked about how Bong-bong won the Philippines presidential elections last year.

My friend voted for unsuccessful candidate Leni Robredo, who was vice president from 2016 to 2022; he blames social media, especially TikTok, for Bongbong successfully managing to rewrite the history of his dictator father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, who was president from 1965 to 1986.

“Social media wiped out the well-documented history of Marcos’ [senior] human rights abuses and corruption,” he said.

I told him that if he lived in the Malaysian political TikTok bubble, he would think that the 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues dominate the country’s conversation.

Arguably, Malaysia’s 15th General Election in November 2022 was shaped by the dominance that current Opposition bloc Perikatan Nasional had over TikTok, especially among young Malay voters.

The social media platform owned by ByteDance might disagree, of course.

Sentiment and not issues will determine which coalition – Pakatan Harapan/Barisan Nasional or Perikatan – voters in Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Selangor, and Terengganu will support.

“Malaysian voters, as much as they think they are rational, are not. They are driven by emotion,” I told my Filipino friend.

“I know. I’ve spoken to voters from both sides of the political divide, and you can’t talk to them rationally.”

Arguably, I said, the sentiment that Perikatan – though which Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, PAS, and Gerakan will be contesting in the state polls – will play on is that Malays and Muslims are under threat.

Pakatan – though which PKR, DAP and Amanah will be fielding candidates – will rah-rah its supporters, especially non-Malays, with the feeling that their lifestyle will be threatened if Perikatan wrests the Federal Government from it.

It is all about the fear factor.

As for Barisan, which will be represented by Umno only in the Aug 12 polls (component parties MCA and MIC are not contesting), I am curious to know what sentiment it can play on.

Its role as “defender” of the 3Rs was compromised when it embraced Pakatan as component party DAP was previously the bogeyman it used to frighten Malay voters with. Now that Umno is in the Federal Govern-ment with DAP, that role has been necessarily taken over by Bersatu and PAS. And both Malay parties are outdoing Umno in playing the fear card.

The political chat with my Filipino friend veered to Thailand. As scripted by the powers-that-be in the kingdom, Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid for the prime minister’s job failed when military junta-appointed Sena-tors voted against him.

My friend believes to cause a political reset and eliminate political oligarchs who have controlled his country for decades, the Philippines needs a movement like Pita’s young Move Forward Party had sparked in Thailand.

Which led to him wondering about a similar party in Malay-sia: “How will that party of young people do in the state elections?” he asked, referring to Muda, headed by 30-year-old Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

I said that Muda will be squeezed by the two giants: Pakatan/Barisan and Perikatan. Most voters have to choose between the two. The parties in the middle, like Muda and PSM, that have an electoral deal will be sidelines.

According to Syed Saddiq, Muda will campaign for a new type of politics and a new Malaysia in all six states holding elections.

After the party was not given “face” by Pakatan in its request to contest as part of the unity government coalition, Muda decided to go solo.

From the statements made by Syed Saddiq and other Muda leaders, being ignored by Pakatan stung, and they have been questioning the extent to which the unity government has implemented promised reforms.

The Muda president has listed what he calls “false promises”: “GLC [government-linked corporation] positions are still being treated as political rewards for obedient political elites. There is no Political Funding Act, no two-term limit for the prime minister, no separation between the prime minister’s portfolio and the finance minister,” he has said (though he forgot to include the fact that the PM today also holds the portfolio of Federal Territories Minister and sits on the Pardons Board).

“There are no equal allocations for MPs. Major monopolies and concessions are still being extended. Oppressive laws are still in place, and worse, they are even proposed to be strengthened by this government. The list of false promises is neverending.”

Will the voters buy into Muda’s argument?

But its unlikely that Muda’s constituents – mostly Pakatan supporters – will listen to reason, though. For them, fear triumphs over “false promises”. They fear the possible takeover of the Federal Government by Perikatan more than Pakatan breaking its election promises.

The latest 3Rs issue to blow up is Matty Healy, the frontman of British band The 1975, slamming Malaysia’s LGBT+ laws and kissing his male bandmate, Ross MacDonald, on stage during their performance at the Good Vibes Festival at Sepang Inter-national Circuit on Friday.

(In response, Communi-cations and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil cancelled the rest of the event and summoned the organisers for an explanation yesterday.)

For Perikatan, this controversy is probably a godsend. Pakatan/Barisan, on the other, will have to scramble to do damage control over an explosive event beyond its control.

But – to paraphrase Mark Twain – politicians will never let the truth get in the way of a good story to “prove” racial and religious fear factors in a false religious “war”.