GE14 was political earthquake, not a tsunami – Academic
Based on the information we have, BN had popular votes of about 33.8 per cent in GE14 compared to 47 per cent in 2013 while PH registered 45 per cent popular votes compared to 36 per cent in 2013. Faisal S Hazis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia academician
KUCHING: What happened during the 14th general election (GE14) was a ‘political earthquake’ rather than just a political tsunami, said academician Faisal S Hazis.
The scholar from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said all historical trends could not be applied in the GE14 results and cautioned that Malaysians should be aware of the fact that they cannot equate a change of government with a structural change to the country.
For instance, he said 84 per cent of the seats saw multi- cornered fights which usually benefited the incumbents of the government, although this was not the case in GE14.
He admitted that quite a number of academicians and political observers did not see a change of government coming in the May 9 polls.
Based on the data he had gathered thus far, Faisal pointed out that the majority of Malays in the nation had voted against Barisan Nasional ( BN), which secured only 39 per cent of the Malay vote compared to 52 per cent in 2013.
At the same time, however, he said not many Malay votes went to Pakatan Harapan ( PH) either.
“Based on the information we have, BN had popular votes of about 33.8 per cent in GE14 compared to 47 per cent in 2013 while PH registered 45 per cent popular votes compared to 36 per cent in 2013.
“If you combine the popular votes of PAS which is 16.9 per cent with what PH polled, they actually have 63 to 64 per cent popular votes. This goes to show that two-thirds of the voters rejected BN,” he said at the ‘ Malaysia Baru: Adakah Rakyat Boss?’ ( New Malaysia: Are People The Bosses?) political forum here yesterday.
Faisal said many had also not anticipated PAS retaining Kelantan and winning Terengganu as well as making inroads in Kedah.
He also noted that PH had made a clean sweep of all Chinese-majority seats with an unprecedented 90 per cent of Chinese voters supporting PH in the GE14.
This led him to assert that PH has to work a lot harder to win Malay votes in the next general election.
“It is also interesting to note that although BN retained Perlis and Pahang, the popular votes were under 50 per cent. And in Sarawak, more than 50 per cent of the voters had voted for BN – the only state in the nation which did that.
“While BN had ‘ fixed deposit’ states in Sarawak and Sabah last time, PH also has its fixed deposit states which are Penang and Selangor,” he said.
Faisal also said it was regrettable that Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) Sarawak failed to make inroads in Malay areas in the state, meaning that it now has its work cut out to win over the Malay votes in time for the coming state election, which can be expected in three years.
He also appealed to Malaysians to ponder over what a new Malaysia is, rather than being receptive to what their political leaders have told them.
“What is the definition of ‘new Malaysia’? For now, your source should be the PH manifesto and you should memorise the PH manifesto like how you memorise the Al Quran and the Bible.
“You need to scrutinise and make sure that this government follows the manifesto and if they don’t, you should tell them off,” he said.
As far as Faisal is concerned, Malaysians are not yet seeing a ‘ new Malaysia’ but are moving towards achieving the target.
He also wondered why Sarawak is focusing so much on its fight for autonomy when there is yet to be a check-and-balance system in the state.
“Sarawak has been getting billions of funding over the decades but Sarawakians seem not to be wondering where such money has gone to.
“For example, Sarawak was given RM33 billion worth of oil and gas royalties in 1978 but many rural areas in the state remain not connected with power and water.
“So even if you have the autonomy, it seems like the benefits won’t go to ordinary people like you and me. It will be risky to have autonomy in the case of not seeing check-and-balance.”
Faisal also observed that many Sarawakians had allowed themselves to be intimidated by certain quarters and thereby failing to play the role of ‘ being the boss’.
“If you really want autonomy, which GPS ( Gabungan Parti Sarawak) is fighting for, Sarawakians should make sure that the autonomy comes with accountability.
“You have to make sure that it will be managed transparently and with just. I think Sarawakians should play a national role to influence the national agenda instead of focusing on state agenda,” he said.
As such, he called upon the people to be a part of civil society organisations (CSOs) and do some groundwork to see progress, transparency and structural change in the nation.
“A new Malaysia is still a work in progress, so do not be delusional that we are already a new Malaysia. But we are hopeful that we can see a new Malaysia because we definitely cannot transform the country under BN.
“Do not just complain on WhatsApp chat groups. You should take action by getting organised and joining CSOs. We all should play a role to monitor the government’s performance.”