The Malaysian Insight

PAKATAN Harapan (PH), especially DAP, may lose some support of the Chinese voters in Malacca if the pact takes in political defectors from Umno, politicians and a political analyst said.

They said Chinese voters, though huge supporters of PH, would not be happy with the decision to accept any of the four Malacca assemblymen who had caused the collapse of the state government.

They also believed that the ban on traditional modes of campaigning due to Covid-19 will make it difficult for political parties to reach out to voters. This has placed political parties at a disadvantage.

International Islamic University Malaysia’s Dr Lau Zhe Wei said barring surprises, Chinese voters will vote the same in the Malacca elections based on their political preferences in the 2018 general election.

Lau, however, did not rule out Chinese voter disappointment with PH because of several political issues.

He told The Malaysian Insight that Chinese voters were currently disheartened and fatigued with the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

He gave examples of several disappointments including how PH MPs did not stand up and veto the 2022 national budget.

“However, Pakatan Harapan has not done anything that has greatly disgusted the Chinese community.

“Even if there were deficiencies in the 22-month ruling, this will not seriously affect Pakatan Harapan supporters to make them to turn to Barisan Nasional or Perikatan Nasional,” he said.

But he said that if PH accepts the four Malacca assemblymen, it is certain that the Chinese voters will be disappointed and will not vote.

Lau opined that it would also be detrimental to PH if Malacca voters who live outstation refused to return to the state to vote.

“But if there’s a three-cornered battle, it will be beneficial to Pakatan Harapan.”

Lau added that MCA, a member party of BN, has not been successful at a positive image.

“Perhaps the current MCA is not as fierce as it was when they were in power. There is not much backflow of Chinese votes.

“Fortunately, BN has a positive image, thanks to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, that may draw voters. Perikatan Nasional will have trouble getting more support,” he said.

Almost 95% of Chinese voters chose to vote PH in the last general election on May 9, 2018.

Chinese votes mostly went to DAP and PKR, which almost “eliminated” MCA.

The Sabah elections held in June 2020 later underscored the Chinese voters’ stronghold again.

MCA has not been able to restore the support of the Chinese voters with its four state seats wiped out in the Sabah polls.

DAP not taking ‘enemies’ lightly

DAP election director for the Malacca polls Khoo Poay Tiong, meanwhile, does not think that PH has an advantage in the upcoming elections.

He attributed this to the Chinese voters’ unwillingness to head out to the polling stations to vote due to fears of being infected with the coronavirus.

“The outstation Malacca Chinese voters may choose not to vote, and even those living in Singapore might not come home,” he said.

He added that although the Chinese voters had backed DAP and PH in the last general election, the parties cannot take their “enemies” lightly.

He also said Chinese voters have become fatigued, after witnessing lawmakers party-hopping and the government changed twice.

“We are worried about low turnout on polling day. According to a poll conducted two weeks ago, only 35% of voters expressed their willingness to vote. Voters are also worried about the epidemic.

He said the performance of the PH government for 22 months was remarkable, although it was difficult for them to fulfil the promises made to voters during its short period of rule.

“Not to mention the performance of the Malacca state government. Although the state government had insufficient experience, the state leaders did their best with what they were entrusted with.

Although Khoo remained confident that Chinese voters will support PH, he said the Health Ministry’s ban on election campaign activities may result in PH’s failure to reach voters.

“Not being able to contact voters and not being able to do house-to-house visiting is disastrous.

“There are some areas with poor telecommunication signal in Malacca. How does DAP introduce candidates to voters? If we can’t visit the houses, how do we get in touch?” he asked.

Khoo said relying solely on online campaigns was not good for PH.

“Pakatan Harapan is at a disadvantage (for online campaigning) because the ruling party can use the resources of its ministers and departments to win over voters. The opposition party is doomed to suffer,” he said.

“Fortunately, some elderly voters have smartphones to view social media content. Next, we have to decide how to expand our publicity so that outstation voters will come back while overseas voters will vote by mail.”

MCA seeks breakthrough win

MCA secretary-general and election steering committee chairman Chong Sin Woon told The Malaysian Insight that the party was clearly at a disadvantage in the state elections.

Chong also said MCA’s return to government did not add points to the party.

“Although MCA has returned to power with two MPs and a minister, its voice is not as strong as before.

“On the contrary, when we were in opposition, we were able to abandon the burdens of the past and rebuild MCA.

“After the Tg Piai by-election victory, where MCA scored a high number of votes, we were confident of gaining the support of the voters,” he said, adding that the party must see breakthroughs.

Chong is also in charge of the Malacca elections for MCA.

He believed that the people had witnessed the shortcomings of PH’s governance in its 22-month rule.

This included the fall in palm oil prices, the inclusion of Jawi in Malay textbooks, and the cut in funding for the MCA-owned Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

He said this led to party’s victory in Tg Piai.

“Voters have not fully understood the unreasonable policies of the Pakatan Harapan government.

“Give them a chance to become an opposition party, and voters will naturally continue to support them because voters generally will not support government policies,” he said.

Chong also agreed that voters are not willing to come out and vote in Malacca.

He said that unannounced election guidelines by the Election Committee prohibits candidates from contacting voters, placing the party at a disadvantage.

“The only thing we can use is cyber campaign, which I must admit that there is a clear gap between MCA and Pakatan Harapan.

“Voters read news that vilify MCA on the Pakatan Harapan Facebook page. Most of the social media information that voters can access now comes from Pakatan Harapan, which is of no benefit to MCA,” Chong said.

He said MCA was currently raising awareness by distributing more flyers to introduce the BN candidates.

Chong also believes that PH will reduce voters’ points if it accepts the four state assemblymen who caused the collapse of the state government as candidates.

Malacca will go to the polls on November 20, with nomination day set for November 8.

The Malacca polls were called after four assemblymen – former chief minister Idris Haron (Sungai Udang-BN), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor-BN), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas-PN) and Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu-Ind) – withdrew their support for chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

DAP has resolutely refused to allow Norhizam to become a candidate in the Malacca elections.

However, PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim defended the four assemblymen and yesterday announced that Idris has become a PKR member and will contest the Asahan seat. – November 7, 2021.