A SLEW of issues drove the Chinese community in Tg Piai to ditch Pakatan Harapan during the weekend by-election, say analysts.

They said the issues ranged from the controversial plan to introduce khat in vernacular schools to Putrajaya’s decision to withdraw funding for Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC).

At the centre of the fight also was failure by the Pakatan Harapan to provide recognition for the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), a key plank in the PH manifesto. 

According to the numbers, Chinese support towards PH in the constituency had fallen from 72% to 40% from the 14th general election.

Southern University College professor Thock Kiah Wah said PH had 90% of the Chinese community supporting it during GE14, and with that came high expectations of the PH government.

“Not only did PH not deliver what it promised, what they did do disappointed the Chinese community as well. Issues such as recognising the UEC, fixing the economy, the khat issue, and Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s flippant attitude towards the handover of power to Anwar Ibrahim did not inspire confidence.

“Add other issues into the mix, not only did PH’s New Malaysia fail to materialise, some even felt the country was worse off than before and registered their displeasure at the ballot, causing a drastic fall in support,” he said.

Political Analyst Sia Si Kean said PH’s defeat in Tg Piai was also a protest as voters did not feel like much has changed after GE14, and that all the government did since the May 9 poll was to continue blaming the opposition for its problems.

The denied allocation to TAR UC

Thock said the TAR UC allocation issue may have had an effect on the by-election.

“DAP had said that MCA must relinquish control over TAR UC for the institution to receive the funds, but this may have sparked some backlash from the Chinese community.

“This seems a reasonable request, but there are many among the Chinese community who have children studying at the institution or who have studied there in the past 50 years. So the government’s move to deny allocation can be perceived as political persecution,” he said.

Thock said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general, should have put forward a more reasonable argument, such as saying it is to eliminate political interference in higher learning institutions.

If anything, he said, the results of the by-election can be used as a gauge of how people feel about PH’s one and a half years in government, especially Prime Minister Dr Mahathir’s performance.

“People feel like nothing goes ahead without Dr Mahathir’s approval in PH, and there are many things that are still left hanging as he had not made a decision, such as UEC recognition, his attitude in this is essential. Dr Mahathir must bear this political responsibility,” Thock said.

Sia agreed, saying the people feel like PH is not democratic enough, with a single person calling the shots.

“We can see that the structure between PH and BN is not much different, and component parties don’t have much say,” he said.

Thock suggested that PH set up a review committee or that ministers raise the people’s views in the cabinet. He said if things continue then PH is likely to be a one-term government.

Promoting a two-party system

Thock also said Tg Piai had provided MCA with a chance of revival, and to BN in general.

“Whatever that had happened, this is a healthy development for Malaysian democracy and we are developing into a two-party system. Support will be determined by performance and extremism will be rejected while moderation is embraced,” he said.

Sia also said PH needs to remember that a wave of support may have carried them into power, but the same wave can also overthrow them.

International Islamic University Malaysia associate professor Lau Zhe Wei said PH is still harping on the misdeeds and corruption of the previous government when the issues have long lost their relevance.

“PH’s priority right now should be in fulfilling its manifesto, and another important thing to do is to show that it can govern, not just harp on the previous government’s failures,” he said

Lau also said Malaysians generally choose the party but not the candidate.

“If there is a good candidate, it is an exception to the rule. So you can say that MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng was a special case.

“Generally speaking, the people don’t care about parliamentarians, but locals felt like Wee was a good MP and he had a good track record of service in Tg Piai,” he said.

Lau said he wasn’t surprised that BN won but was taken aback by the thumping majority.

“This was because the candidate had surpassed those fielded by other parties, and there are also many issues going on between PH component parties, added together, it produced the by-election results,” he said. – November 18, 2019.