Last week’s six state elections were an emphatic reminder that the Pakatan Harapan-BN alliance was struggling to capture the hearts and minds of the Malay-Muslim electorate.

Based on the outcome, which he described as a “stalemate on the surface”, Khairy Jamaluddin examined the dilemmas confronting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the options available to him.

According to the former Umno Youth chief, the Harapan chairperson is facing “twin dilemmas” – ideological and political.

“His first dilemma is ideological. Will he stay true to his progressive and reformist platform or will he continue to push back against Perikatan Nasional by introducing more conservative policies?

“His base has reacted to the election results by urging Anwar to stop pandering to the ‘Malay right’ and focus on growing the economy, introducing reforms, and championing multiculturalism.

“But with such a strong rebuke from Malay voters yet again, Anwar could be tempted to play it both ways: continue with ethnocentric overtures and programmes, and at the same time, hope the economy improves for ordinary Malaysians,” he said in Fulcrum, a publication by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

On the political dilemma, Khairy noted how Umno, which Anwar had hoped could battle PN in the Malay heartland, failed to deliver, winning only 19 of the 108 seats contested.

“If Umno fails to reform by, amongst other things, removing its deeply unpopular president, Anwar faces an important strategic decision.

“He could stick to the current path and head into the next general election by working with Umno.

“And he could even consider recommending a royal pardon for former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who retains considerable support within the party,” he added.

Conversely, Khairy said Anwar could explore ending his strategic partnership with Umno and adopt other options.

“He could battle for Malay votes by enhancing PKR’s appeal to the demographic segment or leverage more on coalition partner Amanah, which scored a surprise victory in one seat in Kelantan,” he added.

‘Unthinkable’ option at present

The former health minister also highlighted an option, which he conceded could be “unthinkable” at present.

“The last option is to reach out to Muhyiddin Yassin’s Bersatu, which is a key party in PN.

“While this option might as yet be unthinkable, stranger things have happened in Malaysian politics before, most recently Harapan’s unlikely pairing with Umno.

“The horns of these dilemmas will certainly weigh on Malaysia’s prime minister and his government in the next few years,” he added.

Earlier, Khairy delved into the possible reasons behind the failure of Anwar’s “desperate” bid to win back Malay voters.

The failure came despite Anwar “conferring with Islamic scholars and clerics, crisscrossing the Malay belt states announcing various assistance programmes, and even allowing his government to criminalise wearers and sellers of rainbow-coloured watches”.

“There are many possible reasons for this,” he said in reference to Harapan-BN’s performance in the Aug 12 polls.

“The first is Malay voter rejection of Umno working with Harapan which has the Chinese-dominated DAP as one of its component parties.

“Umno has long demonised DAP as being anti-Malay and anti-Islam and is now ironically, paying an electoral price for working with the party.

“Second, Umno president and current Deputy Prime Minister (Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi continues to repel Malay voters who find Harapan hypocritical for working with the Umno chief, who is confronting multiple corruption charges.

“Third, PN excelled at weaving a narrative that combined economic fears with 3R (race, religion,and royalty) insecurities to tip Malay support their way,” Khairy added. MKINI