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PETALING JAYA: A political analyst sees Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s promise to strengthen sharia laws as an indication that he doesn’t care if his party loses the support of non-Malays as long as he can increase his percentage. of Malaysian votes.
Jeniri Amir, a member of the National Council of Teachers, said non-Muslims would surely be offended by Zahid’s comment at the Umno general assembly, but acknowledged the likelihood that he was not concerned about that.
Zahid said his party would amend the Federal Constitution to give Islamic laws more influence if it wins two-thirds of the seats in parliament in the next election.
Jeniri told the FMT that he believed Zahid was trying to show that Umno was no less Islamic than PAS.
Non-Malaysian parties have already shown their disgust at Zahid’s comment. Sabah’s Kinabalu United Progressive Organization (Upko) demands autonomy if sharia is imposed, and MIC, Umno’s partner in Barisan Nasional, has said it would not blindly follow Umno.
Jeniri said that Umno was aware that non-Malays and non-Muslims still preferred Pakatan Harapan (PH) anyway and was concerned only with getting votes from Malays in electoral districts on the peninsula.
“However, for Malaysia to move forward, that kind of political narrative is out of date,” he said, adding that Umno should be seen as inclusive and moderate.
With Zahid playing in the gallery, he said, the best man to forge a moderate path for Umno would be his current deputy, Mohamad Hasan.
He speculated that Barisan Nasional could win more seats in the upcoming elections if Mohamad were his candidate for prime minister.
“If you ask the man in the street, they prefer Tok Mat (Mohamad’s nickname) in the current situation. He is perceived not only as credible but also as more moderate, ”Jeniri said.
Oh Ei Sun of Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs said the Malay-majority districts are emerging as key battlegrounds in the upcoming elections, making it inevitable that Umno will resort to rhetoric with racial and religious overtones.
He noted that three major Malaysian parties were competing for these votes and said each would want to paint themselves in “racial or religious colors.”
“As the majority of the Malaysian voter base is decidedly conservative and increasingly religiously oriented, Umno has no choice but to follow the trend so that it does not become the party of choice for the Malays,” he said.
“Non-Malays, in any case, are not likely to vote for Umno, PAS or PPBM.”
In his opening speech at the Umno general assembly on Sunday, Zahid said that the Federal Constitution needed to be amended to ensure that sharia laws were strengthened in Malaysia’s legal system.
He referred to a recent High Court decision on the right of non-Muslims to call God “Allah” and also to the fact that the Selangor government did not obtain the right to enact any Islamic criminal law that is already a federal statute.
