BARISAN Nasional chairman and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu have been tasked with heading two strong ministries to win over the Malay votes that swung to Perikatan Nasional in the last election, analysts said.

According to the experts, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made the right decision on giving these two leaders the ministries that deal with rural voters so that they can help regain the Malay support.

In the cabinet line-up announced last week, Zahid was named the deputy prime minister and the minister of rural and regional development, while Mohamad was appointed agriculture and food security minister.

Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said Zahid’s ministry would have a lot of resources to step up effort to win over Malay voters, including programmes to redress the needs of the community.

Meanwhile, he said Mohamad’s ministry could play a vital role in drawing back the support of Felda settlers who chose PN at the polls.

“There are a lot of programmes within these ministries that could help the Malays in the rural areas. Zahid and Mohamad can directly penetrate these segments of people.

“This could be the new government’s strategy to win over the votes again. As Zahid is now the deputy prime minister and Umno president, this may sit well with Malay voters,” the academic said.

Mazlan said Zahid and Mohamad can develop infrastructure as well as improve internet connectivity as a way to tackle the heart of Malay voters in rural areas.

“Fix the roads, open up more roads and improve the internet. If they can do these, in five years the Malays will see the difference. All it takes is political will,” Mazlan said.

In the recent general election, both PH and BN lost out to PN, which won almost 54% of the Malay votes.

Umno and Amanah both lost to Bersatu and PAS in many rural seats, especially on the east coast and in Felda constituencies.

The results of polls showed that a huge Felda settlement lies within one in three parliamentary seats won by PN, making up about 35% of the total 73 seats won by the coalition.

PN captured 26 out of 54 seats in the Felda parliamentary constituencies, compared to the seven seats won by PAS at the 2018 general election.

In this general election, PAS secured 16 seats, while the remaining 10 were scooped up by Bersatu.

Election data compiled by Felda activist group Pertubuhan Suara Generasi Felda (PSGF) revealed that BN has consistently lost Felda support over the past three general elections.

In the 2013 general election, the coalition won 48 out of 54 Felda seats.

Two weeks ago, BN, which won 30 parliamentary seats in recent polls, lost 12 Felda seats.

Pay attention to farmers and low-income earners

Mazlan Aliman of the Majlis Permuafakatan civil society group urged the government to take into account the grievances voiced by the low-income earners in rural areas.

The Felda activist said the government must ensure that the budget for rural development ends up on Felda settlers and farmers.

“The decision to name Zahid and Mohamad could be a strategy but what sort of reform do they want to bring? The efforts must be seen as helping and boosting the livelihood of the people in the rural areas.

“It doesn’t matter who gets the portfolio if help doesn’t reach the target group.

“They need to take into account what the people, especially the rural folks, need. Don’t come up with policies that could burden them. The ‘government knows best’ policy does not work any longer,” he added.

For Iman Research’s Badrul Hisyam Ismail, the government must empower self-sustainability among farmers as well as to strengthen the economy.

“On one side, you strengthen the Malays, you strengthen the economy, this could be their strategy. Focus on the economy,” he said.

However, he was unsure if the move could claw back Malay support for PH and BN.

“Whether they can get back the votes or not is another thing that is yet to be seen,” he added.

Anwar named a 28-member cabinet for his unity government on Saturday, which included lawmakers from rivals BN.

Anwar has been forced to form a unity government with BN and other coalitions as PH only won 82 seats, far short of a majority. – December 5, 2022.