Monday, March 15, 2010

Malaysian Insider: Jema Khan: The battle for hearts and minds

The battle for hearts and minds

by Datuk Jema Khan

Malaysian Insider, MARCH 15 — It is incumbent on any party who wishes to govern to win the hearts and minds of the majority. The problem is that in a many different races, cultures, religions and a geographically diverse population finding what appeals to the masses is tricky.

From my experience in Sabah a decade ago, I would say that what works in Sabah does not apply to Peninsula Malaysia. The people of Sabah at the time were more concerned about wholly domestic and local issues: can we have a gravel road, electricity, water pumps, free housing etc. The national issues such as Anwar’s black eye took a back seat to their day to day needs and wants. Fulfilling these needs basically won Barisan Nasional (BN) the state election in 1999.

The only real battle for hearts and minds in Sabah centred on the Muslim bumiputra community to unite under one banner which was Umno. This was possible because the previous party in power made the Muslim Bumiputras feel marginalised with only one or two members from this community having state cabinet posts.

Today in Sabah I sense that the people as a whole are more concerned with the development of the state. On the whole Sabahans are battle weary from politics as we have changed the state government a number of times in our history. The only proviso I would put to this is the “Allah issue” which I feel must be settled to the satisfaction of our Christian brothers. The reality is Sabah should probably be the poster boy for 1 Malaysia.

In the urbanised Klang valley, the issues are very different: the people are richer, better informed and have stronger ideological views. There is no real question of lack of infrastructure. The main issues here are crime, corruption and public transport. However, even if the Government was able to solve these issues, they would still have a problem with many peoples’ hearts and minds. The opposition too is trying to capture the hearts and minds of the urbanites.

Umno through Perkasa seems to be focusing heavily on Malay rights (though I have to wonder what its demonstration outside the Australian embassy on Anwar’s trial has got to do with Malay rights) at a time when at least two of its major component parties are having serious problems. I wonder how many percent of the Malay voters’ hearts and mind it will capture with this strategy and whether it may actually lose more Malay liberals and moderates than it gains?

PAS and PKR are also actively trying to capture the Malay middle ground in the urban and semi-urban areas. PAS is painting itself as a more accommodating party to the other races although its ideological base is conservative Islam. PKR is a multiracial party bridging the divide between PAS and DAP. Yet its ideological base is unclear and perhaps purposely so. PKR can thus accommodate those who are not ideologically in tune with the more established parties.

I have a strong feeling that many people want a two party system to flourish in Malaysia. Many will not want to show their preference too early. As a result, I believe we will all be wooed by both sides in the next few years. The question is how will they woo us? Will they say that their ideology is better than the other party or will they accept and incorporate liberal thinking into their ideology?

In promoting Agenda Liberal Melayu on Facebook, my hope is that whoever wins, we will be able to have a more liberal Malaysia which will implement in total the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights which Malaysia is actually already a party to. As a former politician I would however like to caution everyone that politicians, in general, will do whatever it takes to win.

If they can’t get your heart and mind, your vote will do very nicely thank you.

Datuk Jema Khan is a former Sabah Umno Youth leader. He is now businessman pushing the Agenda Liberal Melayu in Facebook.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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