James Chin of the University of Tasmania said their constant exposure to Singaporeans and the need to co-exist for economic benefits have made them “less suspicious” of other people, compared to Malays in other states.

“This is in addition to the unique identity of Bangsa Johor promoted by the royal family which has had an impact on their thinking,” he told FMT.

He was commenting on the Pakatan Harapan victories in the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections on Saturday, which some in PH have called a victory for moderate politics

Azmi Hassan of the Nusantara Academy pointed to the result in Simpang Jeram, which despite being a Malay-majority electorate, was won by PH by a comfortable margin.

“This indicates that the way Malays in Johor think is totally different from the other states. The win coming despite the strong use of race and religion by Perikatan Nasional shows that such rhetoric does not work in the state,” he said.

Chin said rumoured plans by a number of Barisan Nasional MPs to quit the coalition and defend their seats in by-elections to circumvent party hopping laws were likely to be shelved given the results.

He said there was too much uncertainty over whether they would be returned if they stood for election on another party’s ticket.

Azmi said the results of Saturday’s by-elections showed that PN is too dependent on Malay votes and could now be confident only of winning seats where more than two-thirds of voters were Malays.

“Yes, the PN candidate in Pulai got an additional 9,000 votes but they were all Malays. They are more likely to be former BN supporters who switched. The huge chunk of voters who did not show up compared to the elections last November are most likely PH supporters,” he said.