MELAKA – Setting aside the strength of Umno’s election machinery, aid outlined in government policies such as the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), Budget 2022, and Keluarga Malaysia had contributed to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) win here.
Such is the opinion of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak political analyst Jeniri Amir, who told Getaran that Melaka voters were won over by these initiatives.
“Help that was handed out during a time when people were struggling with the pandemic is seen as the efforts of a caring government.
“But there are still many other factors that contributed to BN winning 21 of the 28 seats contested in the state election.”
Jeniri said the loss suffered by Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) could be due to voters’ experiences when Melaka was governed by both parties.
“I think that the voters in Melaka, specifically Malay voters, have already judged the performance of BN, PH, and PN when they were governing the state.
“In my opinion, BN was chosen because voters feel as if the party has a better track record in comparison with the others.”
Conversely, political analyst Azmi Hassan believes that the aid handed out by the federal government did not play an important role in the Melaka election.
Azmi said BN did not put forward the persona of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob even once as part of its political strategy during the campaigning period.
In fact, he said the 12MP, Budget 2022, and Keluarga Malaysia were not misused by BN during that period.
“Melaka voters want a stable government and among the provided options were PN, which has a bad history with political stability.
“The other choice is PH, which also has a turbulent history during its 22 months in federal power.
“Lastly, we have BN, which in comparison, has a reliable history of governing,” he said. – The Vibes, November 21, 2021
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