MALAYSIA will be in trouble if the government fails to address the heightened racial and religious sentiments, Ilham Centre’s chief researcher Yusri Ibrahim warned.

Expressing his worries following the results of the August 12 state elections, the academic said racial and religious sentiments must be stemmed while urging the government to introduce early education on democracy and politics.

“It is a ticking bomb and when the time comes, it will explode. When it explodes, our country will be in trouble,” he said while revealing the findings of the Ilham Centre survey on the recent six-state polls, at Universiti Malaya today.

“For some quarters, democracy is no longer for nation-building but as a satisfaction for power.

“We are getting divided due to religious and racial sentiments and the most ideal partnership to govern the country is through a multiracial, multicultural and multiethnic coalition. This is the basis for stability.”

Yusri said politicians must also play their respective roles in ensuring national stability as well as bring down the political temperature among their supporters.

He urged civil society movements to be more active as check-and-balance agents, including as educators for the public in matters pertaining to politics.

“Leaders have a moral obligation to make sure that we have a mature understanding about politics, and not to add fuel to sentiments for cheap political gains,” he said.

“Race and religious rhetoric must stop at once, whether through education, law or campaign. We need to teach our children as early as we can about politics, democracy and election.

“We need them to be as literate as we can before they reach the voting age.”

Yusri said Perikatan Nasional (PN) had used a lot of race and religion narrative on the alleged threats that the Malays were supposedly facing.

He said state issues were not highlighted by political parties. Instead, issues surrounding the Malays were played up relentlessly.

Yusri admitted that PN was making inroads in mixed constituencies with 60% of Malay voters, starting with Kedah.

“These areas are no longer safe for Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN). Voters in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu were aware that their leaders were less effective than those in Selangor and Penang, but they were committed to voting for PN and PAS,” he said.

Earlier, Yusri’s colleague, Mujibu Abdul Muis, said the election results in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu showed that PN received more than 60% of Malay support.

“In Kedah and Kelantan, PN got 69% of Malay votes, and in Terengganu, 68%. PH-BN received 30%, 31% and 32% of Malay votes respectively,” he said.

“While Umno has taken several measures to correct its image, the party still fails to attract voters. Worse, they caused more anger among the Malays.

“Umno did not learn from its previous mistakes. From 2004 to 2018, Umno did nothing,” – August 25, 2023.