PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s main challenge seems to be winning over Malay voters, who mainly sided with his former allies in the last election, analysts said.

They pointed out he inherited a nation with a weak ringgit, high cost of living and low salaries but the opposition is focused on perceived Malay needs.

They added that the administration, formed with the co-operation of Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN) and parties in Sabah and Sarawak, needs to manage the sensitivity of Malay voters wisely.

llham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar said the majority who support opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) are in the Malay belt, while those who do not support the coalition are mostly non-Malays in urban and semi-urban areas.

“The issue raised by the opposition is more towards Malay issues, how the government handles such a sensitive agenda.

“If you look at the speeches of PN lawmakers in parliament, they are clear with the narrative they bring: they represent and raise the Malay theme, which the government supposedly ignores today.

“That is a segment to which Anwar needs to pay attention,” Hisommudin said.

Early last month, Anwar said PH’s analysis found that Malays accounted for about 31% of the 5.8 million votes received by the coalition at the last general election, following analysts’ claims that Malay voters rejected the unity government, while PH had achieved only 19% popularity among the Malay electorate.

Anwar added that two-thirds of the 15 million votes cast in the election were for one of the parties in the unity government.

The Merdeka Center, in a survey conducted two months after the national polls, found that 68% of respondents were satisfied with Anwar as prime minister.

Hope

Meanwhile, Mazlan Ali, a political lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, saw that people of various races held up high hopes for Anwar to bring about change as promised since the Reformasi movement began 25 years ago.

“People of various races – including in Sabah and Sarawak – support Anwar and are confident that he will run a more transparent administration that takes care of all races.

“However, there may be a bit of scepticism, especially from the Malays, because many of them support PAS and Bersatu,” he said.

Mazlan also said that even though Anwar is focused on fixing the situation, including improving relations with neighbouring countries, the main constraint is the country’s gloomy economy.

“Anwar inherited a national administration saddled with a huge debt and a poor economy, and now he has to deal with the problem of the (rising) price of goods.

“The previous government had the same problem… it is nothing new. That is Anwar’s obstacle now.

“In this first 100 days of his administration, it is clear that he has been determined to help the people and restore the country,” he said.

Clearer narrative

In the meantime, Hisommudin said Anwar’s administration must ensure that government policies are clearly explained to the people, especially when the opposition dominates social media, as was seen during the election.

“Usually, the government’s message or narrative does not reach the people well.

“Government explanations rely on the mainstream media, while it is fighting pressure from social media.

“There will be competition between the sources of information that people receive from social and government media, the latter of which is more dominant,” he said.

Meanwhile, director-general of the Community Communication Department (J-kom) Mohammad Agus Yusoff said the government’s efforts should not be seen from the aspect of race simply because everything is done for all the people regardless of race.

“I don’t agree that acceptance (of the government) is based on race.

“We want to bring Malaysia’s narrative. We want to shape a developed and prosperous Malaysia.

“I am not comfortable with the (issue of) race (played) continuously,” he said. – March 3, 2023.