00:00 For decades, Barisan Nasional held a monopoly over Malaysian politics.
00:06 But the recent state elections saw it unable to reverse the heavy losses suffered at the
00:11 2018 general election.
00:13 On August 12, the big winners in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan
00:18 were the right-wing party PAS and DAP, widely considered a left-wing party.
00:24 Their traditional rival, the centrist BN, only won a paltry 19 seats of the 108 it had
00:29 contested.
00:31 So what caused this reversal of fortunes?
00:34 Political scientist Chandran Muzaffar says, at some point, BN lost the support of the
00:38 rakyat over governance issues and due to high levels of corruption within its administration.
00:44 This was compounded by false communal narratives, which went unchecked.
00:49 For instance, as some others have said, you know, that all political power in the country
00:55 is only with the Malays.
00:56 It's not true.
00:57 Just as it's wrong to say that all economic powers are with the Chinese.
01:00 It's not true.
01:02 Such failures saw the rakyat look for alternative parties to champion their interests.
01:07 For some, it was PAS, and for others, DAP.
01:11 But Chandra, a former PKI deputy president, says voters abandoning centrist parties is
01:16 nothing new.
01:18 Look at what happened in 2016 in the United States of America.
01:23 You had a whole array of issues related to the economic position of the middle class,
01:32 the white working class.
01:35 You had grievances which were genuine because there was stagnation.
01:40 The US before 2016 had known decades of stagnation in terms of the wage curve.
01:50 And then you had a man who came along and he manipulated the race card.
01:58 Chandra was obviously referring to former US President Donald Trump.
02:03 He cited India as another example of how political opponents have taken advantage of voters'
02:08 disenchantment.
02:09 The economic problems in India had become quite severe.
02:13 Unemployment and the middle class stagnating again, and problems of labour and all the
02:21 rest of it.
02:23 And the BJP exploited those issues in the 2014 elections.
02:27 However, Chandra believes all is not lost for BN and other centrist parties in Malaysia.
02:32 In order to bring the centre back together, so you have good governance.
02:38 At the same time, of course, since this is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society, you
02:43 have to be conscious of, sensitive to, you must have a certain degree of rapport all
02:48 the while with sentiments associated with communities.
02:54 The next general election is due in 2027.
02:57 Will any party succeed in bringing Malaysian politics back to the centre by then?
03:02 Only time will tell.
03:03 Natasha Bius, FMT News.
03:05 (upbeat music)
03:08 you
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