IT remains to be seen if unhappiness over perceived inequality over how VIPs and regular Malaysians are treated for breaking Covid-19 rules will hurt Perikatan Nasional in the next election, said Ibrahim Suffian.

The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research director said while the majority of Malaysians are not happy with how the rules are applied, there are bigger issues that will come into play at the 15th general election.

“Whether all of this comes down to voting choices, we’re not sure. It doesn’t look like it is,” Ibrahim said.

“Many, particularly Bumiputera voters are looking at the standpoint that they do not like Pakatan Harapan (PH), and for them they are willing to put up with some of the inefficiency and weakness so long as there is a government that protects their wider community interest,” he said.

“Perikatan Nasional (PN) seems to satisfy Bumiputera voters more on the bigger issues, even if they are weak in other areas.

“People look at things so relatively. There may be an issue they may be not satisfied with, but there are other things that they feel they (PN) can satisfy.

“I think time may change a lot of things. Whatever I’m saying right now is based on what we are observing, what is unfolding now but things may change in six months’ time,” he said.

Ibrahim said despite certain actions taken by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, such as declaring an emergency, he still has a strong personal appeal.

“Based on the surveys and research, we do notice that Muhyiddin still continues to grow a pretty sizeable support in the Malay electorate.

“It’s pretty strong there. As a result, it raises the average across the board, in terms of how the average Malaysian public views him.

“While he (Muhyiddin) has a strong personal appeal, Perikatan also has its own unique appeal in that it is still perceived to be a collection of Malay political parties, so it still draws strong Malay support,” he said.

In a survey by the Merdeka Centre in August last year, 69% of Malaysian voters said they were satisfied with the performance of Muhyiddin as the prime minister, while 58% said they were happy with the performance of the Perikatan government led by the PM and 28% were dissatisfied and angry.

However, now that Umno has announced that it will withdrawing support for PN when Parliament is dissolved and that it will not work with Bersatu in the election, Ibrahim said this may change the configuration of the election.

“Bumiputera voters still see Perikatan as composed of the three big parties, but a changed configuration in election, we don’t know how that will be. That might split in terms of voting choices.

“There are a lot of things that are up in the air, whether support for Umno is still the same, has it gone down, will it improve, especially if there are changes within Umno. A lot of things are really uncertain now.”

Political analyst Oh Ei Sun said it will be difficult to determine who will benefit from the accusations of the double standards when it comes to SOP violations.

“The double standards apparently applied across several ruling parties, which are now at odds with each other.

“So it is unclear which one of them would be electorally harmed by or conversely benefit from such allegations,” he said.

Oh said, for most Malaysians, the priority has been on how the government handled Covid-19, but they may not be sure who they want to vote for.

“I think most Malaysians recognise the importance of political stability in enabling the combat against Covid and the economic recovery.

“But they are increasingly unsure as to which coalition is best equipped to foster such goals. This is especially so now when the ruling coalition is now openly divided within itself, with the roles of government and opposition sometimes being confusingly blurred,” he said.

Oh said the division in Perikatan will have an adverse effect on Bersatu as the party is still trying to convince conservative voters. But, it is likely that Muhyiddin is banking on Bumiputera voters to help him in the election.

“This will have quite an adverse effect on Bersatu, as the party obviously lost its original support base once it pulled out of PH, and is still struggling to make inroads into the conservative voter base traditionally supporting Umno or PAS.

“Muhyiddin and Bersatu are of course banking tremendously on this (Bumiputera voters), as they hold the helm in the federal government which is controlling most of the developmental resources.

“This is especially so in East Malaysia, where socioeconomic needs often overwhelm ideological differences. It remains to be seen whether the same needs-over-identity electoral support could be elicited by Muhyiddin and Bersatu over Umno and PAS,” he said.

Senior fellow at the Malaysian Council of Professors Dr Jeniri Amir said perceived double standards will affect Muhyiddin and PN if they still persist closer to the general election.

“If the double standards are still there, it’s going to affect and be manipulated by the opposition and it will directly affect the rating of Perikatan.

“As of now, it’s affected, but over time, six to eight months from now, the issue won’t be serious anymore.

“It all depends, as I said, if the double standards exist closer to the elections. If they manage to address the issue and there are no more double standards, it will fix the problem,” he said.

Jeniri said what is important to most Malaysians now is a stable government that is capable of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What we really need now is stability. It is very important for Muhyiddin to be seen to be an effective leader and address this issue (Covid-19).

“Certain sections of the Malay-Muslim crowd see that he’s been trying his best in trying to tackle this problem. With all the stimulus packages and trying to assist the needs of the people by allowing i-Sinar withdrawals from the Employees’ Provident Fund.”

Jeniri said Muhyiddin’s general popularity has not plummeted, but has been slightly affected by what is happening within Perikatan.

“I think he’s trying to stabilise the government, the latest move by him to convince Umno ministers not to quit shows his commitment to ensure that we have political stability to ensure we can move ahead.”

VIPs who breached rules or received special treatment

1. Najib Razak (Pekan MP)

The former prime minister did not scan his My Sejahtera app while visiting a restaurant. He had claimed that his aides had scanned the app for him. The compound for not scanning MySejahtera is RM1,500, it was previously RM10,000 before being amended. At the time, Najib said he will pay the compound after seven days so that he will not get the early bird discount of 50%.

2. Khairy Jamaludin (Minister of Sports and Youth), Annuar Musa (Federal Territories Minister), Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (Minister of Finance), Ismail Mohd Sabri (Deputy Home minister), Noraini Ahmad (Higher Education Minister)

The ministers were said to have crossed state lines for the wedding reception of Jelebu MP Jalaluddin Alias’ daughter at a hotel in Seremban. Pictures circulated on popular social media app Instagram showed the ministers attending the wedding which created an uproar on social media over the double standards.

3. Zuraida Kamaruddin (Housing and local government minister)

The housing and local government minister was alleged to have breached Covid-19 rules in a cycling event. Zuraida had come under fire after a Facebook post showed her flagging off what seemed to be a bicycle “fun ride” at Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. According to the National Security Council, all activities involving large gatherings, which make it difficult to practise physical distancing, are not allowed. They include fun runs, fun rides, marathons and triathlons.

4. Annuar Musa (Federal Territories Minister)

In a photograph widely shared on social media in February, Annuar was seen eating at the same table with six others during a visit to a community centre project in Cheras.

Under movement control order regulations, only two people are allowed to a table when eating out.

In a Facebook post, Annuar said he only “sat down for a moment” and moved away after realising that the organisers had not followed SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid-19. He subsequently paid the RM1,000 compound on February 26.

5. Edmund Santhara Kumar (Deputy Federal Territories Minister)

Upon returning from his extended leave in New Zealand, Edmund was allowed to undergo home quarantine because he returned from a low-risk country and his home was suitable for quarantine.

The Health Ministry said that considerations such as New Zealand being a low-risk country and he has a suitable home for quarantine were taken into account.

However, a request by a Singapore Airlines pilot S. Mani Vannan who sought to be placed in home quarantine so he could care for his cancer-stricken mother was denied.

Santhara’s 55-day leave was approved by the prime minister on December 3, 2020. Edmund said his purpose for leaving the country was to visit his family in New Zealand, whom he had not seen for almost a year.

But the propriety of going on leave for such a long time, overseas has been called into question, as many Malaysian’s can’t even travel to other districts to see loved ones. – April 1, 2021.