Disillusioned non-Malays may punish PH without backing PN, says Ramasamy
Urimai chairman P Ramasamy said it is also a mistake to treat all non-Malay voters, like Chinese, Indians and others, as if they think and vote the same way.
PETALING JAYA : Even if non-Malay voters do not directly back PAS or Perikatan Nasional (PN), former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy has warned that their frustration with Pakatan Harapan (PH) could still carry serious political consequences.
He said political discontent among non-Malay voters may manifest not through outright support for PN, but in other forms of political disengagement.
'Under the right socio-political conditions, there is no guarantee that the non-Malays won't abandon a hypocritical or ineffective PH-led coalition.
'It could emerge in other forms — lower turnout, protest votes, or support for alternative opposition figures,' the Urimai chairman said in a statement today.
P Ramasamy.
He was commenting on Wong Chin Huat's analysis in an FMT report, in which Wong said PAS's bid to woo non-Malay voters dissatisfied with PH was unlikely to succeed due to the party's entrenched 'zero-sum' political framing that alienates non-Muslims.
Wong had said PAS's political messaging often presents gains for non-Muslims as losses for Muslims. This narrative tends to alienate non-Malay voters, he added.
However, Ramasamy argued that such analysis may overlook the diversity and evolving sentiments within the non-Malay electorate.
'Lumping all non-Malays into a single bloc is a form of essentialism that flattens the political distinctions among Chinese, Indians and other minorities.
'Their political calculations, sentiments and thresholds of tolerance differ.'
Ramasamy said Chinese voters may reject PAS over ideological and cultural differences. However, he noted a shift in thinking among some Indian voters — not because they support PN, but because they're frustrated with the PH-led government.
He went on to say that non-Malay voters are not 'blindly loyal' and any support for PAS or PN would depend on whether the coalition moves beyond narrow ethno-religious politics to address minority concerns meaningfully.
'Political allegiances are fluid, and the Malaysian political environment is evolving rapidly.'
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