124. What is now Johore?

Fortress Johor stands

Posted on 7 May 2013 - 05:28am
Last updated on 7 May 2013 - 11:09am

ANALYSIS by Pauline Wong
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

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FORTRESS Johor has remained unbroken. While the Barisan Nasional (BN) performed worse in Sunday's polls than ever before in the southern state, the state rule and majority in parliamentary seats is still BN's to boast.

Johor, for all intents and purposes, has not changed – Umno's birthplace is still its pride, and loyalty to the ruling coalition remains at a high of 38 out of 56 state seats and 21 out of 26 parliamentary seats won.

But while the 'Johor way' remains unchanged, the ripple effect that this state may have on the rest of the nation could be staggering.

As much as racial sentiments are a bitter pill to swallow, for such sentiments should have no place in a multi-racial and multi-religious nation, it would seem quite overwhelmingly that the cracks are the fault of a 'Chinese tsunami', as mentioned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in his winning speech yesterday morning.

And this massive Chinese swing was arguably felt very strongly in Johor.

MCA candidates in Kluang, Kulai and Bakri were defeated by DAP, and the Chinese-majority seat of Gelang Patah (usually contested by MCA but swapped with Umno this time) also fell to DAP.

Labis was won by MCA's Chua Tee Yong by a hair's breadth of a mere 353 votes, and Tanjong Piai was lost by a 5,000-vote majority.

BN, even Umno, won with reduced majorities in many of the seats, some by just a few thousand.

It would seem the Chinese community has turned its back on BN and MCA, giving DAP the biggest Johor win its had in decades with a solid four out of six parliamentary seats it contested here, and 11 out of 12 state seats. DAP only lost the Paloh state seat, and that was by a whisker of 103 votes.

Nationwide, DAP also emerged to be the top performer of the three parties in the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), winning 38 out of 51 parliamentary seats it contested (10 more than in 2008), and taking a clean sweep in all parliamentary seats contested in Perak, Negri Sembilan and Penang.

The evidence, it would appear, is clear that the second-largest majority race in Malaysia will not support BN, which has continued to endorse extremist groups like Perkasa.

What then would this mean to the Chinese community in Malaysia?

With MCA so far holding on to its 'threat' of not taking any Cabinet posts if it performed poorer than in 2008, what of Chinese representation in the government?

And since MCA has lost many of its much-needed seats in Johor – previously its fortress – does this mean the Chinese will have no place in the BN government?

Also, with the mostly-Chinese DAP now being the dominant party in PR, what would this mean to the coalition, which was previously dominated by the multi-racial PKR? A bitter pill to swallow, indeed.

But yet, we have to take a closer look, for first appearances are deceiving, and these questions may need never actually be answered.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the Chinese tsunami may be nothing more than a 'convenient' scape goat for the poor support of BN.

The ruling coalition also lost eight more parliamentary seats than in 2008, and some of its prominent names such as Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ali Rustam, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, Deputy Education Minister Dr Puad Zarkashi, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Donald Lim and Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik were defeated.

Perkasa leaders Datuk Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin, who have been reported many times in the press making remarks which are deemed racist and insensitive, also lost in Pasir Mas and Shah Alam respectively.

Urban areas like Selangor and Penang were retained by PR easily, while urban seats in the mostly-rural Sabah and Sarawak were also won over by PR, and wherever there was a surge of young voters like in Selangor, PR swept easy victory.

So looking at it, the overall picture paints something quite different.

Malaysians began by turning up to vote in unprecedented numbers – Election Commission (EC) puts the voter turnout as over 80% for this GE.

Youth involvement in the election was overwhelming as social media was awash with updates, posts, discussions, debates and comments from this generation. Twitter and Facebook feeds were faster with updates than official sources like the EC.

The number of young voters, previously thought to be apathetic and apolitical, made up about 2.3 million of 13.3 million eligible voters, about 600,000 higher than in 2008.

Malaysians, overall, rejected candidates who are known to make racist and sexist remarks. Malaysians also voted out candidates who had supported policy decisions like the Automated Enforcement System (AES) in which its implementation had not been transparent.

Voters also showed that a government and officials consistently plagued by allegations of corruption and abuse of power would have to face the consequences unless it buckled down and took serious action.

Voters also proved that a state government that has not taken care of its people will be voted out.

In the end, on Sunday night, Malaysian voters proved that democracy is alive and well – not because the government of the day 'allowed' it, but because the rakyat willed it.

Hopefully, the prime minister hears the clarion message the people are telling via their voice in the ballot box, and introduces more initiatives to address their concerns, win back their hearts and check the sliding support for BN.