YOURSAY | ‘Disaster awaits if Malay heartland ignored in pursuit of reform agenda.’

Rebellion and regret: Talking to rural voters after GE14

Salam: Thank you. This is an excellent ear-to-the-ground piece by researcher Serina Rahman, which confirms what many of us, even in the urban areas, feel.

The reality of this country is that the government must find a way to pursue its reform agenda without losing the Malay heartland. If they fail, then extremism will take root, which will be disastrous for everyone.

This is what has happened in many other countries, even in the United States. And there is no magic formula: the key is to go down to the ground and engage.

Pakatan Harapan should prioritise the bottom 40 percent (B40) incentives promised in Budget 2019, and ensure that they start trickling down to the lower income group on Jan 1, 2019.

They also need to stop demonising the civil service, because strong governments rely on them, while weak governments cannot survive without their support.

Right now, Harapan is not strong enough. Instead, it should encourage and motivate them, because there are far more good and honest civil servants than bad.

It's definitely important to get rid of bad apples, but don't demonise an entire group. This will demotivate and turn off even good people.

The civil service is the government's "hands and feet" on the ground, executing the government's policies and initiatives.

Dizzer: Thank you for this sombre and sobering analysis. Every now and again, you find a piece on Malaysiakini that makes you think reflectively rather than just react reflexively. This is a good (if depressing) example.

Hearty Malaysian: A well-researched analytical piece showing how fragile is the ground that the Harapan government stands on in rural areas.

These rural folk are used to handouts after so many years of an Umno-style gravy train. They are now frustrated.

Harapan needs to help these rural folk slowly wean off pure handouts, but it has less than five years to strengthen their source of income from hard work.

Umno and PAS are just banking on these fears to stir sentiments along racial and religious lines.

Prudent: Yeah, Harapan and especially Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng should note the conclusion by the author: "The new Harapan government needs to be seen to genuinely engage with people on the fringes to prove that they have not been forgotten.

“While the recently released budget details numerous benefits to the B40, without concrete improvements to their livelihoods and visible change to conditions on the ground, these plans remain mere rhetoric. For in these far-flung rural edges of Peninsular Malaysia, there is little harapan (hope) left."

Pisang Goreng: Great to see research like this being carried out. It is too easy to forget the gaps between urban and rural centres.

Newday: To Serina, well stated.

This is a big point to note for Harapan and us city slickers. Continuing the handout gravy train to the rural voters is not a long-term option, but we do need a deeper level of political engagement to present a new way with substance for long-term aims to materialise.

Anonymous_1528103253: Rural people are simple and often bear the brunt of any economic reform. Let’s be more tolerant and generous for the greater good of the country.

A good turn deserves another, and by helping others in need, we gain more in life than just materialistic benefits, for us and for the future of our children.

I hope the ministers are reading this article and make well-informed decisions rather than react in a knee-jerk fashion.

Cocomomo: Harapan should make an extra effort to reach out to the rural folk through good deeds to improve their lives. Rural folk should move away from the hypocritical parties making use of race and religion.

Jeez: This article hits on the sweet spot where the rural Malay voters' position is. As much as we despise the handout mentality, we still have to deal with it, as it is the reality on the ground.

Economic realities coupled with decades of constant fearmongering of the 3Rs – race, religion and royalty – makes it harder to break the "headlock" on rural folk.

Naturally, the political vultures will always swarm in capitalising on their pains and fears to secure their votes. Harapan has to find counter measures quickly on a short- and long-term basis, otherwise they will never be on firm ground.

You may have good intentions but without power it amounts to nothing. And power comes from the masses, whether or not they are informed.

OMG!: Is Harapan taking note of this empirical research?

Two other aspects concern the rural voters. Firstly, maldistribution has excessively increased their weightage in elections. Secondly, the widespread use of voting machines will reduce the need for rural constituencies to be much smaller than urban ones.

Harapan has many problems to contend with. But proving to the rural, largely Malay voters that its rule has brought them greater benefits than BN's, is surely of vital importance.

Does Harapan keep its fingers on the pulse of the rural electorate 24/7? The 15th general election in 2023 will dawn faster than anyone thinks.

Umno Youth: 150 reports and Waytha still out, 17 reports and Papagomo in

Ipohcrite: Umno Youth quite obviously believes in the law of the jungle. It's not the number of reports you make but the substance of your reports that counts.

If your reports merely make accusations without any prima facie evidence, you are actually abusing the process instead. And to have the Umno Youth chief querying why de facto National Unity Minister P Waythamoorthy was not arrested is the height of stupidity.

And if Umno Youth didn't already know, their executive council member, the blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, better known as Papagomo, is nothing but a perennial rabble-rouser stirring up hatred and racial divisiveness at every opportunity.

Ravinder: The police do not arrest people based on the number of police reports lodged. In fact, not a single report is necessary for the police to arrest someone if that someone has committed an offence and the matter has come to the knowledge of the police, by whatever means.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Last I checked both P Waythamoorthy and Selangor exco V Ganabatirau did not call Malays pendatang, demand that they be expelled from the country and be stripped of their citizenship and voting rights.

Papagomo has said all that in respect of the Indians.

Waythamoorthy alleged discrimination against the Indians by the Umno-BN government in a 10-year-old video. Maybe, the UN and the World Bank can do a study on Waythamoorthy’s allegations.

Ganabatirau alleged that a Muslim group attacked the temple which he later apologised for and corrected.

Papagomo has been repeatedly instigating hatred and violence towards all non-Malays/Muslims for the last five to 10 years with impunity. Is he above the law?

MalaysianMalaysian: If what is reported is Umno Youth’s opinion on this matter, it shows their "mentality" and how dumb they think the people are.

I'm really concerned because with leaders like these, how is Umno ever going to become a strong and formidable party again?

Cynical: This coming from a former deputy minister? To him, the number of police reports is the measure of a person's guilt, not what the person did or said. No wonder this country sunk under Umno.

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