I think the candidates have tried their best but as a president, I need to do better. This is a very humbling experience for us at Muda.
– Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, Muda president
In the end, the battle for the six states ended in a status quo, or a stalemate if you may. Pakatan Harapan (PH-BN) — made up of PKR, DAP, Umno and Parti Amanah Negara — retained Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan while Perikatan Nasional (PN-PAS) comprising Bersatu and PAS, kept Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s PH-BN took 99 seats while the PN-PAS coalition headed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin took the lion’s share of 146 seats of the 245 seats on offer.
For PH-BN, the nail-biting contest was nothing to shout about as the coalition lost several seats in Penang even though it secured two-thirds majority, winning 29 seats and conceding 11 to PN-PAS. And in Selangor, PH-BN fell three short of the third-thirds majority, taking 34 out of the 56 seats.
The only consolation for PH-BN was in Negeri Sembilan where it romped to victory, taking 31 of the 36 seats on offer. PN-PAS had to be contented with only five seats.
PH-BN failed to make inroads into Kelantan, securing a measly two seats and PN-PAS winning the remaining 43 seats. The latter made a clean sweep of all the 32 seats in Terengganu. In the 2018 election, BN won 10 seats. And in Kedah, PN-PAS took 33 seats leaving PH-BN with only three.
The biggest loser is obviously Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s BN.
Umno’s poor performance is seen as a massive rejection of the one-time ‘Big Brother’ of the BN coalition. It entered the elections eyeing 108 seats but emerged badly wounded with only 19 seats to show, losing 89 seats.
Why the wholesale rejection of the party once seen as the Malay community’s hope and saviour?
We can zoom in on a few reasons, one of which is the internal problems afflicting the party. Zahid’s presidency is not accepted by many party leaders, thus splitting the party right in the middle. Those who are not in sync with him are shown the exit.
Zahid is also facing several corruption charges and though the presumption of every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty, ordinary leaders and party grassroots want a clean leader and reject any form of corruption.
Also the Umno president’s decision — apparently without the blessings of the party — to work with Anwar did not go down well with grassroots supporters. Obviously, there is still bad blood between Anwar’s PKR and Umno.
Another reason is the decision by Zahid to work with DAP which is part of Anwar’s coalition. Umno grassroots still could not come to terms with the move to align with what they perceive as a Chinese party which is not ‘Malay or Muslim friendly’.
Several Umno leaders and grassroots showed their resentment by joining Muhyiddin’s Bersatu and later, Hadi’s PAS.
One need not be a rocket scientist to conclude that disgruntled Umno members and supporters would have voted for PN-PAS candidates in protest.
What the Umno leadership needs to do now is not to waste any time and carry out a post-mortem, and institute urgent reforms if it wants to stay relevant. Otherwise it will go the way of its ‘brothers’ MCA, MIC and Gerakan.
For now, Umno may not be a baggage for Anwar’s unity government, as the prime minister needs him more than Umno needs him. Nevertheless, working with PH may not be to the advantage of the former BN lynchpin.
The elections are widely seen as a referendum for Anwar’s unity government though they might not have any immediate bearing on the coalition’s two-thirds majority in parliament. But PH-BN has mountains to climb to regain the trust of the Malays.
Anwar will have to woo the Malays back before the 16th general election (GE16) if he is to have any chance of stopping the ‘green wave’. I am not sure if he will adopt a more pro-Malay and pro-Islamic stance to please the community.
PAS shored up support by stepping up racial and religious rhetoric. How Anwar and his coalition aim to counter Hadi is yet to be seen.
The Islamic party contested in 127 seats and won 105.
The biggest winner in Anwar’s coalition is DAP, which showed resilience by winning 46 of the 47 seats it contested. It notched up perfect results in Selangor, winning all its 15 seats contested, Penang (19 out of 19), Negeri Sembilan (11 out of 11) and Kedah (one out of two).
Amanah did well, except for losing in Kedah. It contested in 31 seats and won eight.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) headed by president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman failed to secure any seats. It fielded 19 candidates including 10 women.
The party’s participation was mainly aimed at building a platform to introduce young leaders to the Malaysian public.
I had the opportunity to attend their ceramah on Aug 11, the last day of campaigning, and was quite impressed with the young candidates who were in their 20s and 30s. Give them a few years and they will be prepared for GE16.
The next general election may be the mother of all elections. Will PAS eventually succeed in taking over Putrajaya with the help of Bersatu? We will have to wait until 2027 to know the answer.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
