KUALA LUMPUR – Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) push towards liberalism will only alienate it from the Malays who need a “protector” aligned with their identity politics, Bersatu youth chief Senator Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said.
He said the majority of Malaysians are not yet ready to embrace the sort of “full-blown” liberal democracy PH aspires to achieve, which was one reason why his party decided to leave the PH-led government in the infamous Sheraton Move in 2020.
PH’s liberal brand of politics is unsustainable and will only serve to erode Bumiputera support, as seen in their recent poor performance in the Melaka, Sarawak, and most recently Johor state elections, Wan Fayhsal said.
This is the problem with centre-left parties, including Muda. They downplay identity politics and think Malaysia is a liberal, matured democracy. This is not the case,” he told The Vibes in a phone interview.
“In fact, even in the West, they too succumb to identity politics, because we live in a society where there are cultures, traditions and religions. All of these help shape voters’ judgment on which leader and party they want to support.
“When we left PH, why do you think the Malay votes came to us? It is because of the assurance to them that we are no longer kowtowing to the brand of liberal politics brought by PH.”
The opposition pact suffered heavy losses in the recent series of state elections, which analysts attributed mostly to the loss of Malay support in the coalition.
PH, which comprises PKR, DAP, Amanah, and Sabah party Upko, saw its popular support in Melaka fall sharply to 35% from the 50.8% it secured during the historic 2018 national polls when it ousted the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from power.
The result in Johor was even more telling, with the trio of PKR, Amanah and DAP securing just 26.41% of the ballots cast, while PH-friendly Muda obtained 3.46% of the votes.
Wan Fayhsal said the recent electoral results are a further indication that the Malays are rejecting the existing PH brand.
The Malays need a protector. They have a neo-feudal mentality and are not ready to embrace a full-blown liberal democracy yet. At the end of the day, the societal nature of embracing a tribal mentality will persist.”
Wan Fayhsal said PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's recent remark that the Malays are indebted to DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang for educating the masses on their rights in the country, while possibly true, will not earn PH any brownie points.
“Yes, Lim has contributed much to politics. But as much as we respect his rationale, do the Malays agree with his push for liberal democracy? No. This is the problem with the mechanists and technocrats in PH.”
The rejection of liberalism is also not unique to the Malays, with some of the more “liberal leaders” in DAP getting axed by their own members in their recent party polls, Wan Fayhsal said.
Tony Pua and Ong Kian Ming were among a number of high-profile names to miss out on DAP's 30-man central executive committee, which were elected on March 20. – The Vibes, April 5, 2022
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