KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — The Cameron Highlands by-election could open the floodgates to more religious and race-baiting in the future with the alliance between Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS expected to flourish, ex-Financial Times researcher Hafiz Noor Sham alleged.
Hafiz said the voting attitude in yesterday's polls could mark the start of a thriving co-operation between two of the country's biggest Malay-Muslim parties, noting that BN saw its share in votes rise thanks to support from PAS.
“The most important thing here is that, this election probably seals Umno-PAS alliance,” Hafiz, who is now special officer to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng tweeted last night.
“What Pakatan needs to be wary going forward is really more race-religion controversies. This Umno-PAS alliance will be the worst of Malaysian politics,”" he added.
BN's Ramli Mohd Nor bested Pakatan Harapan candidate M. Manogaran for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat by 3,238 votes to give the former ruling coalition its first victory after four by-elections had been held since the 14th general election in May last year.
It was a significant increase in majority votes for BN, which only managed to retain the seat with a triple digit lead in the May 9 polls.
Based on voting data compiled by news portal Malaysiakini, Hafiz said the increase was due to support from PAS voters.
However, PH votes appeared secured. Hafiz said this suggested the rhetoric that voters would turn the Cameron Highlands by-election as a referendum on the new administration's performance had little bearing.
Cameron Highland voters were also seemed unperturbed by some of the "faux pas" committed by the coalition's leaders during the campaign trail, he added.
Instead the researcher said what is at stake for PH is only rural Malay support, which the coalition must manage to avert a BN-PAS monopoly on this voterbase.
“Pakatan needs to improve but not for what most people on Twitter think. Pakatan vote is actually quite secured,” he said.
“It's not that people are ‘menyampah’ (fed up) with Pakatan. Instead, it is that Pakatan needs to go on the offensive to win the other side.”
Immediately after BN was declared the victor, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang called the Cameron Highlands by-election results a positive development towards better cooperation within the Opposition bloc.
Meanwhile his counterpart in BN, acting chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, despite himself initially protesting against the idea, said the two parties will continue this strategy to empower the Muslim agenda in the country.
The fledgling co-operation between the two could threaten liberals in Umno who oppose PAS as conservatives pushing for the Umno-PAS unison will likely be emboldened Cameron Highlands by-election outcome, Hafiz said.
PAS supporters, however, refused to back BN in the three by-elections prior.
“The one that should panic is the ‘more liberal politicians’ in Umno,” he tweeted.
