DEFENDING Tanjung Piai will be an uphill task for Pakatan Harapan as both Malays and Chinese are unhappy with the government, a seminar was told today.

“It may be the first government with which both major races are unhappy at the same time,” said Ilham Centre head of research Dr Mohd Yusri Ibrahim.

“The Malays feel that PH is not doing enough to defend their interests, Islam and the monarchy, while the Chinese feel PH hasn’t lived up to its pre-GE14 expectations,” said Yusri during the P165: Tg Piai seminar at Universiti Malaya (UM) this morning.

The situation is crucial for PH as the Tg Piai electorate consists of 57% Malays and 42% Chinese, he added.

He said it was an ironic situation that PH only had itself to blame because it has lost the perception war with the opposition when it came to race issues.

The Universiti Malaysia (Terengganu) political science lecturer explained that the Malays began to feel insecure after GE14 because they felt that there were not enough Malay MPs in the government.

Even though more than half of the 139 MPs from PH and its friendly parties consist of Malay and non-Malay Bumiputera leaders, only 26% voted for them in Peninsula Malaysia, said Yusri.

He said this gave rise to the allegation that the government is led by non-Malays.

“This narrative has been there since Barisan Nasional lost the government and it was played up effectively beginning with the Semenyih by-election.

“Subsequent by-elections in Cameron Highlands and Rantau sealed this narrative,” said Yusri.

On the other side, Yusri said, the Chinese feel that the new government has not lived up to the hype.

“Particularly with the khat issue. After the prime minister attended the recent Malay Dignity Congress, the Chinese feel that nothing appears to have changed on the question of race issues.”

UM’s Prof Dr Hamidin Abd Hamid said that the Chinese support for the opposition in Johor was also different from other parts of the country.

According to Institut Darul Ehsan, 57% of the Malays voted BN in Tanjung Piai during GE14, while 32% voted for PH and 9% voted for PAS.

On the Chinese side, 64% voted for PH, with 32% voting for BN and 2% voting for PAS.

The national poll was 46% Malays voting for BN, 28% for PAS and 26% for PH.

Among the Chinese, 93% voted for PH, while 2.5% voted for BN.

“As such, DAP should not count its Chinese support in the state as a fixed deposit yet,” said Hamidin.

He said the situation was the same among the Malay voters.

“During the last elections, there were Umno voters who voted for PH but if you check the crossovers among the grassroots into the party, it is very low.”

UM economist Dr Mohammad Tawfik Yaakub said that one of PH’s weaknesses lies in its policies.

“There doesn’t seem to be any new policies. Previously, there was Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), which is now Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH).

Both are cash handouts, albeit one is less.”

Yusri said – while PH has implemented several institutional reforms such as repealing anti-democracy laws, such as the Anti-Fake News Act or tightening anti-corruption laws – it has not been felt at grassroots level.

“People on the ground don’t talk about these things, but they see the khat or ICERD issues as being problematic,” said Yusri. – November 5, 2019.