THE Malays need help and guidance and “not protection” while the younger generation no longer views every issue through the lens of race and religion, said two experts.
This followed Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal who recently said that Malays need a “protector” who is aligned with their identity politics and that they have a neo-feudal mentality and are not ready to embrace a full-blown liberal democracy.
Wan Fayhsal’s hypothesis came from the political scenario of the last six decades where the political parties are based on race and religion, said senior fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research political analyst Dr Azmi Hassan.
“The voting trend of the voters is tied to this political party’s ideology where the Malays are more comfortable to vote for UMNO, the Chinese for DAP, Indian for MIC,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Daily.
“For me, to say the mentality only occurs in the Malay community is very biased because the Malay voters consisted of the majority of other voters. If you go to Sabah and Sarawak, it would be the same except they are more dependent on the chart of where they are from.”
He also said that the mentality is not only on the Malays but also on other races and tribes in Borneo as the political system since 1957 which influences the country’s political system.
When quizzed about who the Malays need protection from, Azmi said that it is not a matter of needing protection but needing help to protect their rights which explained why the Malays often turn to UMNO, considering the fact that UMNO is a Malay-based political party.
“It’s not about who they need protection from but they are more comfortable in asking for help from a party that is defined from the same race. I think Malays are more comfortable [asking] for help from a Malay-based party to protect their rights,” he pointed out.
Azmi further noted that the younger generation has a different interpretation on the issue which explains why the multi-racial and multi-religious Parti MUDA had appealed to the younger generation.
This was evident in the Johor polls where MUDA did well, considering its status as a new party without any grassroots support, while the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Pejuang – a Malay-based party – had failed to attract the younger and older generations during the state polls, he added.
In the same vein, political analyst Prof Dr Kartini Aboo Talib questioned how the Malay mentality was not ready for such a modern and advanced developed nation, as claimed by Wan Fayhsal, when the Malays were great merchants, sailors and traders before the colonial conquest.
Furthermore, the Malay language was the lingua franca in the Archipelago.
“For democracy, voters in Malaysia proved to be very literate in psephology politics or the statistical study of elections and trends in voting,” she told Sinar Daily.
“They wanted change, and they did it through election instead of rallying demonstrations, radical movements, or violent acts.”
Touching on the aspect of the younger generation, Kartini further noted that they are more prone to be influenced by social media and those who can provide specific information, infographics and clear messages for future security.
“They do not need protection because their rights and entitlement are well protected and guaranteed by the Constitution but what they need is guidance,” she remarked.
“So, for Wan Fayhsal to say that the Malays are not ready for a full-fledged democracy due to their mentality is absurd and too politicking just because Bersatu is struggling at the moment,” she said. – April 22, 2022
