The Malaysian Insight

THE outcome of the Malacca polls will determine Barisan Nasional’s (BN) move in the 15th general election, MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon said. 

He said that if BN wins big in the state elections, the four-party coalition will be gunning to win GE15 without forming ties with other political parties, including the need to work with other Malay parties to garner votes. 

However a win for Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the state may force the Umno-led BN to work with Bersatu and PAS at GE15 so that the Malay votes are not split, he added. 

“The political situation in Malacca will affect the whole country and decide whether the next general election will be held soon or postponed,” Chong told The Malaysian Insight.

Chong said Perikatan Nasional (PN), which is contesting in all 28 state seats in Malacca through Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan, will split the Malay votes where Umno is also contesting. 

However he said MCA was not overly worried with the challenges by PN candidates in the seats the party is competing for.

“PN does not have an impact in constituencies that MCA is contesting at. Our main competition comes from Gerakan but Umno will be impacted by Bersatu and PAS.

“We also know that most Bersatu members were previously from Umno. While PAS may not win any seat, it can still dilute Umno’s support.”

Chong said a defeat for Bersatu at the state level may see some former Umno members returning “home”.

He also said if the Malay voter turnout was low, Chinese voter turnout would not be as high as expected. This, he said, would make it difficult for MCA to win. 

In Malacca, PN is contesting in all 28 state seats. Bersatu will contest in 15, PAS (8) and Gerakan (5). 

In 11 of these seats, the coalition will face PH and BN.

Umno is part of an uneasy alliance with Bersatu and PAS at federal level but in Malacca they are opposing each other. Likewise, PAS has also opted to work with Bersatu despite being in the Muafakat Nasional pact with Umno.

Chong said it was too early to say if PAS was dragging BN or Umno back.  

He said that in a one-on-one contest, where BN was taking on just PH, it would be much easier to see how the Malay, Chinese and Indian voters vote.

“Now that there are three Malay parties, we are not sure how the votes will be split,” he said.

“As long as each party has a strong grassroots support, they will be able to get through. But in these three-cornered fights, if everyone’s votes are close to each other, it may cause some parties to lose. This is why it is important that Umno strengthen its support base.”

Pakatan win won’t offer political stability

Chong also said that if PH won Malacca, this would not lead to political stability in the country, nor will it put a stop to party hopping.

He said the current chaos in Malaysia politics was in fact because of PH’s 22-month rule at the federal level.

After the “Sheraton move” last year that led to the collapse of the PH government, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had time and again announced that he had the numbers to form government, but nothing came of it, the former senator said.

Chong added this had led to PH’s momentum slowing down.  

In Malacca, he said, Anwar also unilaterally decided to accept two former Umno lawmakers who had caused the fall of the Umno-led state government, claiming that they were not party hoppers.

“Party hopping started after the PH government collapsed. They are the reason there is political instability,” he said.

“During BN’s time, Malacca was an important tourist state, which in turn drove its economy to the point where a new port was built. All these developments can only take place with a stable government at the helm.

“In the 22 months that PH led Malacca, the state has not seen much development to make the people’s life better or make it a more advanced state.”

Chong said whoever takes over Malacca must have the ability to improve the people’s income and standard of living over political goals.

“Malaccans gave PH a chance and look what happened. In these elections, the people’s vote will determine whether Malacca has stability and whether there will be economic development in the state.”

Chong added that he was confident that if BN comes out victorious in the state, it will return to its previous model of governing by ensuring a diversified policy to improve Malacca’s economy.

He also said Anwar, as the leader of PH, has been making mistakes after mistakes.

“First, PH accepted Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who ultimately resigned. Now, he has met with the four individuals who led to the collapse of the Malacca assembly.

“He had also initially accepted Idris Haron as the state’s leader. It was only after campaigning got underway that he announced that PH’s chief minister candidate is Adly Zahari.”

The state assembly was dissolved on October 4 after four assemblymen withdrew their support for chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

They were former chief minister Idris Haron (Sg Udang), Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu), Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas) and Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor).

Early voting in the state took place on Tuesday. The rest of the state will go to the polls on Saturday. – November 18, 2021.