DR Mahathir Mohamad might make the loudest noise about Najib Razak but as far as the prime minister’s party, Umno, is concerned, DAP is the main enemy.

The narrative is simple and has been in the playbook since the 2008 elections – cast the Chinese-majority DAP as the leader and protagonist against Malay rule and disregard the number of top Malay politicians fighting against Umno.

“The DAP as bogeyman has been a major theme since the 2008 general election when BN lost five states,” DAP chief strategist Liew Chin Tong told The Malaysian Insight, referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

“The idea is to make it seem there is no Malay leadership in the opposition and Umno is the only choice for the Malays,” he added.

Before the 2008 general election, where BN also lost its parliamentary two-thirds super-majority, the only Malay leader of note was sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and his colleagues who left Umno in 1998.

But Anwar was jailed and his political fight was taken up by his family and a few other supporters who did not have his stature. All that changed in the 2008 polls where he led the opposition campaign.

Yet, DAP remained the bogeyman while Anwar’s PKR and PAS seen as partners within Pakatan Rakyat in the fight against BN’s rule. Their bigger win in the 2013 elections unravelled when Anwar was jailed again while PAS had an acrimonious break-up with the pact over its Islamic state plans.

Dr Mahathir’s decision to quit Umno and set up a party with the single purpose of ousting Najib from the top job was seen as a boost for the opposition but Umno kept to its strategy of making DAP as the leader of the pact.

The reasons are clear for BN’s increased attacks against DAP, said Liew, who is the party’s MP for Kluang.

“It is more intensive than ever partly because BN has no positive story of itself and there is no defence for Najib’s scandals. The only way forward for Umno/BN is to attack,” he said, noting that the fallout from the scandal-hit state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which was the prime minister’s pet project.

Singaporean and Swiss authorities are investigating 1MDB over suspect financial flows while the state firm is now directly managed by the Finance Ministry after selling off its utilities arm and large tracts of land to settle its debts.

Putrajaya recently declared 1MDB was free of debt but critics, such as DAP’s Tony Pua and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli, have continued to harp on the issue, joined by Dr Mahathir who accused Najib of being responsible for the scandal.

Despite that, Umno has only trained its sights on DAP as the protagonist out to topple the BN government through “fake news”, and its opposition to increased shariah penalties and Islamisation programme.

“The storyline now is vote Umno or PAS,” said Liew, commenting on the remarks from Umno and PAS leaders in what is seen as a precursor to campaigning for the 14^th general election (GE14) which must held by mid-2018.

The Islamic storyline was played out in this week’s Jakarta gubernatorial elections where incumbent Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Chinese Christian, lost to rival Anies Baswedan and running mate Sandiaga Uno, both supported by Islamist parties and groups.

Asked if Malaysia could see a replay of the Ahok situation, Liew said: “I acknowledge that identity politics is powerful and we can’t rule out the fact that Umno will use such playbook.

“But there are two important differences over here. One, Najib is hugely unpopular among the Malays. I think his credibility in the eyes of the Malays is beyond repair.

“Second, the opposition has Malay leadership,” said the architect of DAP’s huge win in Johor in the last general election.

But that narrative of a Malay opposition is not in the script used by pro-Umno cyber-troopers and bloggers. For them, DAP is the enemy that must be vanquished in GE14.

No one else matters, not even Dr Mahathir or any other Malay politician in the opposition bench. – April 22, 2017.