In Penang State, UMNO is losing support of Malay voters while DAP and Pakatan Harapan + Bersatu are gaining more support of Malay voters
This is an era not only of “fake news” and “false stories”, but also the dissemination of myths and false perceptions.
It was the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself who kicked off the UMNO propaganda of Nazi-type Big Lies in his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov. 30, claiming that
- That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;
- That the DAP is anti-Malay and/or anti-Islam;
- The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.
If there is any basis to these three “Big Lies”, Najib would have jumped at the opportunity to expose and tear me to pieces when I challenged him to a live television debate, but Najib knew better than to accept my challenge to a live television debate for there is no way he could substantiate his Nazi-style Big Lies.
But the UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers are also spreading myths and false perceptions, such as the Malays in Penang are being oppressed by the DAP-led Penang State Government and that the Malay voters in Penang have no confidence or support for the DAP-led Penang State Government.
One reason for my “Jelajah Desa” visits to Penang and Malaysia is to carry out a fact-finding tour to ascertain the feelings of the people on the ground.
In my “Jelajah Desa” visits to Kampong Tok Subuh in Bukit Mertajam and Sungai Gelugor in Bukit Gelugor last week, I found no traction in the myths that the Malays in Penang are being oppressed and that the Malays in Penang have lost confidence and support of the DAP-led Penang State Government.
On the contrary, I find that it is UMNO which is losing the support of Malay voters in Penang State while DAP and Pakatan Harapan + Bersatu are gaining more support of Malay voters in the state – as the Malays on the ground in Penang know that the DAP-led Penang State Government has done more for Malays and Islam than previous Barisan Nasional administrations.
UMNO losing Malay support while the DAP-led Penang State Government increasing Malay support was actually reflected in the 2013 Penang state assembly general election results.
I recently had opportunity to analyse the 2013 General Election Results for the Penang State Assembly, as the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, had implied that the DAP was losing voter support, particularly among Malay voters in Penang.
In the 2013 General Election, the DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat won 30 state assembly seats as compared to 29 seats in the 2008 general election.
DAP not only won all the 19 seats it won in the 2008 general elections, but with a bigger majority in everyone of the 19 seats, with majorities as big as more than 300 per cent as in the case of Chong Eng in the Padang Lalang seat where she won with a 14,930- vote majority as compared to the 4,242-vote DAP majority in 2008 general election; and of over 400% increase as in Padang Kota where Chow Kong Yeow won with 7,196-vote majority as compared to 1,661-vote majority in 2008; in Pulau Tikus where Yap Soo Huey won with a 8,220-vote majority as compared to 1,714-vote majority in 2008 and in Seri Delima where RSN Rayer won with 9,227-vote majority as compared to 2,128-vote majority in 2008.
Equally interesting, UMNO suffered a loss of Malay votes to DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat in Penang, with UMNO losing one seat (Seberang Jaya) where former UMNO Assemblyman Arif Shah Omar Shah who had won the constituency with a majority of 533 votes in 2008 lost to Afif Bahardin (PKR) who won with a thumping majority of 2,459 votes.
Five of the 10 UMNO Penang Assemblymen had the 2008 UMNO majorities slashed, and these five state assembly seats are Sungai Dua, Telok Ayer Tawar, Permatang Berangan, Pinang Tunggal and Bertam. Four other seats were won by UMNO with only three-figure majorities of less than a thousand, namely Teluk Bahang, Pulau Betong, Bayan Lepas and Sungai Acheh.
This means that nine of the ten UMNO incumbent seats are very marginal and vulnerable and UMNO could be defeated in the next general election.
It is because UMNO is facing the danger of losing more state assembly and parliamentary seats in Penang and throughout the country that UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers are escalating their rhetoric and activities falsely alleging that the DAP and the DAP-led Penang State Government are anti-Malay and anti-Islam.