THE successful collaboration between Islamist party PAS and Barisan Nasional during the Cameron Highlands by-election will embolden the two parties to deepen their working relationship in a bid to dominate the rural Malay voter base, according to the Institut Darul Ehsan research house.

“If Pakatan Harapan doesn’t handle this issue well, anti-government sentiments could spread to semi-urban and urban Malay voters,” said research manager Khairul Ariffin.

He said PAS and Umno have been playing up Malay insecurities since the general election, and yesterday’s polls “show that Malay voters have bought into this argument”.

 “If Pakatan doesn’t handle this well, the ‘cancer’ will spread to other Malay voters.”

Khairul said that the results has proven wrong the initial hypothesis that Felda and rural Malay votes will shift due to their “loyalty and allegiance” to the government of the day.

“Rural Malay voters have shown a higher political maturity than earlier thought, and they chose BN because they felt the party was better at defending Malay rights and Islam.”

The Selangor government think-tank said that Pakatan’s Malay parties – Bersatu, Amanah and PKR – will have to tackle Malay voting issues more seriously to compete with Umno and PAS.

Khairul said that while efforts to reform the electoral system, Parliament and other institutions was important, the majority of Malay voters, especially those in rural areas, had yet to fully appreciate them.

“Cost of living issues and commodity prices are still the main issues faced by rural voters.”

Winning factor

While Malay rights issues are an important factor, BN’s choice of an Orang Asli candidate who represented 55% of the demography (34% Malay and 21% Orang Asli) proved to be decisive in Cameron Highlands, said Khairul.

“By fielding Ramli Mohd Nor, who is from the Semai tribe, BN was able to convince voters that he would be the first Orang Asli representative in the Dewan Rakyat. Moreover, he would not be seen as an Umno candidate.

“This pragmatic move turned what was an Indian represented seat to a Orang Asli seat, and was able to attract Malay voters.”

Khairul said this was evident by BN’s success in maintaining its grip on Jelai, which comprised 64% Malay and 34% Orang Asli voters.

He said that BN focused its campaign on the Malay areas only, and pressed on anti-DAP and Malay-Islam issues while minimalising Ramli’s contact with the media.

“BN also had and better grasp of sentiments in Jelai compared with Pakatan.

“Its position as the state government and having Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who is also the Jelai assemblyman, ensured better contact with voters there.”

Khairul said BN also emplyed a micro targeting tactic, placing flags and posters at voting stations and identifying voters early on.

“The house-to-house campaign with PAS leaders worked for them, while Pakatan’s campaign centred on sentiments and issues,” said Khairul. – January 27, 2019.