That’s the advice of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia associate professor Faisal S Hazis, who said that while the previous opposition pact, Pakatan Rakyat, had touched on such issues in its manifesto, commonly referred to as “Buku Jingga”, it did not push for it in the last general election.
Faisal, who is with the university’s Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, surmised that this was because the opposition then was “riding the wave of new politics of inclusivity” and pushing the Malay agenda would not have been “trendy”.
“It would be paradoxical to push the Malay agenda while at the same time championing inclusivity,” he said at a forum entitled Multi-Cornered Contest: Bane or Boon.
Also present were Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian and Dr Johan Saravanamuttu, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Faisal told FMT the fact that Pakatan Rakyat had come up with a common policy that addressed the Malay narrative in the past, means they can do it again, especially now that PPBM is part of the opposition coalition.
“That said, the opposition must marry the Malay and centrist or moderate narrative.”
Faisal’s view comes after Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj cautioned the opposition that it stands to lose out on Malay rural support in the next general election (GE14) unless it addresses the community’s fears about losing its rights.
The PSM leader said there was anxiety among rural Malays that PH would be soft on asserting their economic rights if the opposition pact took over the federal government.
He said PH should give ample focus on dealing with such concerns, instead of putting more weight on issues related to 1MDB and other corruption allegations against the ruling Barisan Nasional.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim said that PPBM can help attract Malay voters.
“But the big question is how much of a ‘market share’ can PPBM win over? Is it enough to overcome the loss of ‘market share’ from PAS,” he asked.