GOMBAK: The next few general elections in the country will be centred around race-based politics, whether Malaysians like it or not, according to Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin (pix).
The former Cabinet minister said this is due to how Malaysians generally viewed politics, as well as the recent marriage of Umno and PAS, which he said has proven to be a winning formula, going by the recent by-election results.
“Identity politics is always going to be there. When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad left Umno, he set up a party that looks very much like Umno, a Malay-based party,” he said during the Post-GE14 By-Elections: Implications for GE15 forum, here, today.
“That reflected Mahathir’s thinking that this is still how politics is viewed, and how the majority of Malaysians viewed it. I don’t think this is going to change in our lifetime.”
Khairy said while he did not fully support the idea of race-based politics, he noted how the Umno-PAS pact had won the last three by-elections held in the peninsular.
“When you are Umno and PAS, and you realise that this is maybe the winning formula, then of course you’re going to stick to it. And this will determine the flavour of the coming general elections, because what’s to come is to be centred around identity politics.
“It sets the course for what Pakatan Harapan (PH) has to confront with, which is the rise of the Malay-Muslim bloc which they (PH) seemed to be struggling to deal with,” he said.
However, Khairy said, despite the recent by-election results in Cameron Highlands, Semenyih and Rantau that went in Umno-PAS’ favour, they are not predictive of the outcome of the coming general election.
The former Umno Youth chief noted how Umno had in 2007, on the back of what was BN’s best general election performance in 2004, contested and won the Ijok by-election and thought this would spell good news in the face of the next general election.
“However, what happened a year later in GE12, we lost our two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.
“The Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections in 2016, which BN won, also proved that they don’t really meant anything, since we lost the following general election.
“By-elections are more localised as compared with general elections, because we are not only talking about picking a new MP, but actually possibly changing the government.”
