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Political columnist Philip Golingai joins the podcast to break down the upcoming July 11 Johor state polls, map out the looming battles in Negri Sembilan, and look ahead to the road to GE16.
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00:05Hello everyone, welcome to the StatePolls 2026 podcast. Today we are joined by one of the most
00:14recognizable political journalists and our columnist, Philip Gualigai, who has covered
00:22various political, biggest political events in our country. So welcome. And he has covered
00:33for many, many years, major events throughout various government administration. So okay,
00:40can you share with us today, what is one of the most unforgettable coverage you've done so far?
00:48Okay, for me, any political event, I think one of the big unforgettable event is the
00:55sacking of Anwar as the UMNO Deputy President and also as the Deputy Prime Minister. I think that
01:04was like a, what we call it, turning point in Malaysia history. And it's like really, really
01:10big event because I think it's the first time that it has happened. And then for me, it's the way
01:17it happened. And then one of the big event for me was for the first time, I was like covering
01:23it
01:23at, in front of Dataran Merdeka. And the reformacy crowd was like, the way they dominated the street.
01:33And they were just like, as a journalist, you're like, wow, my God, they've taken over.
01:37How was the mood like?
01:39Oh, the mood was a really big reformacy. They really wanted change and everything. And then
01:44it's quite fun because it was like every Saturday, Sunday, we are tasked to go there. And then it's
01:49like cat and mouse game between the reformacy protester and the FRU.
01:53So the trick for that one as a journalist is you always be behind the FRU. So when they start
02:00spraying the pepper spray and a big, so you're di belakang lah. Oh, so you're just like, okay.
02:05And then we know roughly. Friends will tell you, hey, Philz, they're going to do it. So you quickly
02:09go behind. And then the other interesting thing is those people yang in front too, yang reformacy,
02:15then we just look, they're actually as big.
02:17Wow.
02:18Yes. So I think that's the because, I think, because.
02:22How about Sabah State Post? Can you share some reason why? Is there any interest there?
02:26Okay. Sabah ni kan, because first of all, I'm Sabahan. Okay. So Sabah ni, whenever I write, I always
02:33use the word, the wild, wild is. Sabah ni, macam, how to say, anything can happen.
02:40Okay.
02:41Macam kawan can jadi lawan, lawan can jadi kawan. So for me, it's like really big festival and
02:46everything. And then, um, in terms of mood, I feel, but maybe I'm biased because I'm
02:51Sabahan. Uh, first, first is if you'll cover election, I think the most fun one is Sabah.
02:56I'll explain why. Number two will be Sarawak. It has that Sarawak niya flavor.
03:01Then Peninsula Malaysia, a bit stayed lah. Okay. The main reason for Sabah is because there's
03:08this Aramaiti, uh, element. Aramaiti is more like, uh, let's have, uh, let's, let's be
03:15merry. So there's a certain, uh, how to say, special brew, uh, during election and everything.
03:21And then it makes people quite, uh, high in politics. So the mood is more fun. And then
03:26it's all the intrigues that are happening. Like while the election is on, you know that
03:31somebody will betray somebody or on that night of election, somebody will betray you.
03:35Oh, okay. Yeah. And then the night before, uh, the appointment of the CM, it's very
03:40heated, right? Oh, that one. Yeah. That one we are clever enough to know. Park ourselves
03:45near the istana. Park ourselves next to the CMs. Uh, what? And that night something will
03:49happen. Okay. Wow. Amazing. And, uh, okay. How do you compare covering Sabah, Sarawak
03:55and also the Peninsula? Is there any other differences? Okay. The difference I think in
04:01Peninsula Malaysia is, okay, first of all, we're very, uh, mostly urbanized. Okay. So
04:08in terms of, uh, movement is, uh, quite easy to reach like from one seat to the other
04:13seat is very fast. For example, like just say you cover Kinabatangan. Just say, you're
04:18my boss, you're my editor. He said, Phil, go and cover Kinabatangan lah now. Right. Then
04:22I'm like, okay, for me to reach Kinabatangan is like, uh, I think if you drive maybe 10 hours,
04:2712 hours, and then to cover the whole Kinabatangan, it's like, like, just say at one place, just
04:36say, uh, Bukit Garam, to go to the other place, it may, it might takes you a few hours, a
04:41few
04:41days. So that's, that's one difference. The other day when you were covering, uh, Johor,
04:46Johor ni, no, no, uh, change a bit lah. Uh, we were covering Melaka. Okay. Melaka, you're
04:55agree with me. Melaka ni, kan, we were in a car, and then we did it in one day. The
05:00whole, the whole, the whole state. Maybe. Yeah, lebih kurang we did the whole state.
05:05Macam very senang. So I think in terms of, it's the geography itself. Okay. Yeah,
05:10geography. And also, they're urbanized. So you can't really see people macam, you
05:15have to go, if, even like, like during campaigning, this journey, right. Look at
05:19depth. They're actually going to, uh, like, uh, going to towns, meeting people, small
05:25places, et cetera. So it's more, more compact, actually. Easier, actually, to campaign.
05:31That's right. That's right. So, uh, in terms of, uh, campaign, right. So do you think
05:36Sabah is more, uh, hands-on or? Oh, Sabah ni, uh, Sabah ni, to be a bit cynical, kan. Yeah,
05:43it's hands-on. People are very relaxed. And then also, uh, we, we, we're not that toxic,
05:48actually. It is more like, actually, it's like my sodara versus that sodara. Like in
05:53the, the last election I covered in Moyong. Okay. Uh, we had an election, I think in
05:57November. Yeah, November we had, it's like, oh, everybody's sodara. So nothing
06:01personal. Okay. So it's, it's like very family event and everything. So, um, yeah.
06:07So it's more very, very relaxed. I see. I see. Okay. Uh, wait. Except on the night
06:13itself, uh, then something will happen. Especially rural area. You can see people
06:17smiling, like they're already saying. Yeah, because I, uh, I think they call it
06:22duit tambang. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, okay. Back to, uh, Johor. Okay. What can
06:28you share with us, uh, some observations for this Johor polls? Okay. Johor is very
06:33interesting, actually. Okay. Uh, not because the last election was Sabah, kan. Sabah
06:37was Sabah. The result, I think, is very uniquely Sabah. Right. But this Johor ni, although
06:42it's a state, it's a state election, Johor ni, but it, it will have some impact in
06:48the, in the federal government. So it's not only like, let's just say I'm from KL and
06:54say, it's Johor ni election. It doesn't concern me. Don't worry. Because you see, look
06:59at it, you have one big party. Okay. Uh, no, coalition that is Barisan National. The
07:03other one is Akatan Harapan. Both of them are in the Wadani government. And then both of them
07:09are going solo against each other. Right. So it's very interesting to, for me, I look
07:14at more in terms of the dynamic. What will happen? What will happen to this, uh, Madani
07:19government? Right. So I think that's really for us. We, although it's a Johor, uh, Johor
07:26election, but will affect us. Oh, okay. Do you see any, uh, any, uh, any coalition
07:33leading now? Oh, coalition leading now? It looks like, okay. Uh, but I have to be very
07:38careful about prediction because I thought Japan will win the World Cup. I was like,
07:43okay, yeah, Japan win the World Cup. A bit suck it happy. They were leading 1-0 and they
07:47lost 2-1 against Brazil. So now I'm questioning my ability to predict. Okay. But I think
07:53France will win it. So now you ask me that question. Most probably BN will win
08:00menang bergaya. Menang bergaya. Menang bergaya. Meaning? Why is that said? It looks
08:05like, uh, Johor ni, it's, uh, well, good question, ah. That's, okay. Johor looks like
08:12it's, uh, it's UMNO dominated. Okay. And also it looks like, uh, they will want BN to
08:19remain as the state government. So the question is not that it's, it's not a federal election.
08:24they are not the johorians they are not voting for a federal government so maybe if they were
08:30voting for the federal government it will have been a different mindset but this mindset is
08:35it's they it's a state government and it looks like they're very comfortable happy with the
08:43success of johor johor now is one of the uh in terms of fdi and i think one of the
08:49biggest state
08:49in malaysia so i think that's one big factor i see i see do you think that uh the bread
08:55and butter
08:55issue is still the key topic uh for this choco election i think maybe not huh i think it's more
09:02like i think from what i see yes uh things are tight and everything but it looks like it's a
09:08very
09:08more of an emotional uh election yes true bread and butter is very important but i think
09:15for people is more i don't want that particular coalition right to win i want this coalition to
09:22win so yes but but our tummy or stomach do decide right but i think i think people know that
09:30roughly life is the same because it's still the federal government is still the state so it's more
09:36that who i like and who i don't like i think it's a very at the moment i think it's
09:40it's emotional
09:41emotional okay you think it's getting heated now days before the polling day i think now belum lagi
09:47yeah tapi you're right i think we wait normally election the first week will be a bit you know
09:53like exciting and everything although but we can see already uh bickering here and there somebody said
10:00cabar okay you you not resign resign lah but i think next week that will be at least 10 lah
10:06right so it
10:07will be heated heated heated heated and then i think uh tense because the stakes are very high
10:13and then we look at as we go into monday tuesday wednesday then yes it will be much more heated
10:20lagi menarik lah uh and then in terms of uh you know the uh there are talks about uh dr
10:25musli and also
10:26uh the mb having a debate do you think that's a good culture to have oh this debate actually i've
10:33been
10:33thinking about it okay okay i was thinking about it like okay if just say i was a politician which
10:38i'm not or just but i was thinking hey if i'm a politician people cabar you to debate ah okay
10:42so the interesting thing about debate me is you're judged as an mb just based on debating okay so what
10:49happens if i'm not good in debating and then that person looks good right right so sometimes i think
10:55is unfair so if you're not you you shouldn't be judged by you're just good in debate because i think
11:03uh i think we all know that uh some people are good in talking correct so do we vote for
11:08somebody who's
11:09good in talking so i was thinking hard about that also i was thinking should he like uh take the
11:15challenge but then i thought no you should just be you judge me which i'm total my performance this is
11:22what i do not because of one mistake i make during a degree ataupun one great uh what and then
11:28usually
11:29for me i see it if the young pencabar tu is the one yang trailing okay so sometimes you better
11:36don't
11:36rock the boat if you're leading you just relax uh just what don't fall into the trap and then uh
11:43that person yang losing to they need to to to increase a bit of momentum put pressure and then try
11:50to
11:50see whether the opponent make a mistake so for me is i'm not a fan of debate okay although as
11:57a
11:57journalist yes yes i i'm a fan but i'm sorry i was thinking of uh future job as a politician
12:03which i'm not okay okay how about uh the negeri similan polls what are the things that we need to
12:09observe okay negeri similan poll is i think we can get the in from it's all uh connected actually
12:16okay okay now we look at johor johor ni nampak macam lah nampak macam this uh secret pack ataupun
12:23not so secret pack between just say pass okay and then umno which is i think brokered by
12:30wawasan okay okay at the moment we think oh jump to and then uh it's very interesting that
12:34pass has said uh you undi you undi uh anything but uh you can uh yeah what did they say
12:42undi umno
12:43which is not something new something different i think like three years i mean if if they had a
12:49real fight gun you will not even say that to your opponent so that is already indication that
12:54wawasan okay yes they might be uh some uh uh pack or something so right johor you nampak
13:03which i'm soft softening softening of the ground and then the best will be we wait for negeri that's
13:09why i can't wait for negeri for your nomination that is july 18 kan right correct yeah okay so july
13:1418 ni we tengok uh how many seats in uh negeri uh about okay so yeah so so we see
13:23out of all those
13:24seats how many seats will be and take will they take all solo or solo for all or suddenly other
13:32some seat that they don't contest so if that happen then it will show that there's a pact between them
13:40and uh uh perikatan and then there's no pact between them and their current um ally in the federal
13:49government so negeri is really interesting and then maybe now negeri it's become more interesting
13:56because at the moment it's a 50 50 seat oh okay although at the moment it's dominated by pakatan
14:02pakatan is the king of negeri samilan but it depends if there is a certain coalition uh depending
14:10on the electoral pact it's might be no longer 50 50 so it's a more exciting election right right so
14:18are
14:18you saying that uh these two elections is a foreshadow for a muafakat national 2.0 oh okay
14:25uh this is uh need to be careful on this one i thought about that also but you know the
14:30this funny
14:31thing about politician is see whether you agree with me before g15 okay i thought there was there
14:36will be a muafakat national okay uh that is umno and pass and then a bit of uh the time
14:43bersatu
14:43i thought all three will combine to go against pakatan harapan right that from my recollection
14:50recollection but then something happened um no gadu pull out with pass so pass decided to be with
14:56perikatan national then it became a three-way fight right so it was uh pakatan harapan versus bn
15:03versus uh perikatan national so at that time if you ask me the same time around that time i would
15:10have said yes muafakat will be the coalition so but sometimes things happen in uh politics because
15:18it's very fluid so there's no guarantee i think that there is a muafakat national okay because along
15:24the way ego comes comes yeah do you think that there will be any surprises uh during
15:30okay yesterday i was having some chat okay and then it seems some seats that you thought i won't
15:38name the other seats yeah you thought that this party will definitely win because when you look
15:43at their majority what i'm showing showing okay but it seems maybe the photos in that area might
15:51work so i think i think there will be a bit of uh yeah they might that that might be
15:57the big surprise
15:58and maybe it's because of this lady oh she didn't stand so i give you a hint lah there's a
16:04lady
16:04she was not fielded by her party because the party asked her to go to another seat so it seems
16:09this particular seat is very interesting why is that because mungkin although her party
16:17has won it okay has it's their stronghold but in my jatuh so yeah interesting interesting
16:25don't ask me more okay okay and then okay how about negeri do you think there will be also
16:31surprises maybe some swap from the federal leaders or coming to the state or what's your thinking
16:36about that that one anthony lock uh he's going to contest so he's one big uh federal uh what
16:42then the talk is maybe uh kimakasan is there he's a state guy so those are and then baru-baru
16:52there also but uh kamlida okay so it's quite interesting the dynamics yeah both might be leading
17:00the ph campaign and everything so a bit of you know either wayang or what but maybe a bit
17:05of bad blood so it's interesting to see the dynamics so uh it's very fluid now right sir
17:12so does that reflect uh do you think that our ge16 will be more uh fluid than this okay
17:19ge16 is at the moment i think it depends on what happened in johor okay how well bn does
17:27and how bad ph that or vice versa then it depends also on the what happened to negeri whether there
17:36is a electoral pact between technically enemies in the federal level if they combined and then we
17:46will see next will be melaka your state and then also sarawak so it looks like when you when i
17:52talk
17:52among my friends it looks like ge16 is very close some people say after budget or end of the what
17:59but uh i asked you so what what from your sources what do they tell you oh i think could
18:06stretch even
18:07longer oh longer as what what do you mean maybe full time okay what what's the what's the
18:14reasoning oh maybe because i think uh mostly they say it's about the outcome of this two election
18:22also lah so they rethink for what's going to happen and they might extend until the very end okay
18:27interesting but if i was a politician i better be ready now i guess that's true yeah it can happen
18:33like that ah okay so back to joho and gris milan do you think that um for uh coverage in
18:40terms of
18:41coverage you think a political coalition should name their poster boys
18:47wow that's a uh interesting question then for me i think to be fair to the voters they should know
18:53who their mentri besar is however what happened in the last joho election is a poster boy was named
19:00and then he didn't become mb so now people do not like they don't have faith whether this person is
19:07a poster boy or not right and then the other funny thing also they have they are turning other
19:13people into poster boys that's true like this election is about najib oh you know as zahid as pm and
19:19everything so for me is because i like poster boys okay i like to know like oh who's my mb
19:26but the funny thing is sometimes voters doesn't really care yet because this is not a presidential
19:31election but yeah so they vote because of that candidate or how they feel at that time so
19:39sometimes the poster boy become irrelevant plus i think they have already seen that it has happened
19:44before that your name is something like uh barang yang uh order and barang yang supply is different yes
19:50yes yes okay i understand is that so okay in terms of uh uh your coverage in the sabah polls
19:56right
19:56so uh so uh do you think uh at that time i did uh did them name any mb candidate
20:04damn candidate okay
20:06that one uh quite uh clear okay very clear what warisan is uh for shafiq you know shafiq
20:12and then that time grs is very clear it is haji g so for bn bn ah bn diam diam
20:22oh nothing
20:22because because it's not nothing they they they they're not their name uh their name because it
20:28will become an issue so technically one two three can yeah the three major party so at that time yeah
20:34other so people knew who they were voting uh who eventually if the coalition win or the party win
20:41will become the cm oh okay okay okay and then uh do you still think that uh this staples uh
20:47the is
20:49there still the mali you know green wave now or do you feel it's different sentiment oh okay see
20:56feeling it all together when you say green wave green wave is very interesting because pass is only
21:00contesting in how many 11 11 seats and that one uh ph pn which is which is seen previously as
21:09a
21:09coalition the green wave coalition they're not going fully into this so it doesn't look like a green
21:14wave thing plus don't forget jaw is not a green wave state yeah it's not a green state it's a
21:21at the
21:21moment blue blue state kan so for me i don't see the green wave coming in green wave has i
21:27think it's
21:28color spectrum kan yang green too like your baju now now kan oh yeah your baju now is from green
21:34yeah it
21:35can fade kan it's getting to blue i think it's it's more blue okay blue wave darker blue lah okay
21:41interesting
21:41interesting also bersatu they have they have said that they are using both sides are saying i mean in
21:48terms of pass and bersatu you know there's some issue with the perikatan logo what are your thoughts
21:54on this like our our voters care when because oh if they see a pn now what do they think
22:00yeah i think
22:01uh in terms of net narrative is very confusing and you also don't know like okay is pass with
22:08bersatu or is bersatu or is bersatu we pass but both are perikatan i think it's quite confusing for
22:14the word that's why most holster they give them technically zero perikatan uh which is light blue
22:20right right light blue will most probably get zero so yeah all right okay okay uh just this some uh
22:29quick fire around okay um during your sabah uh sabah staples election uh which one had the most uh
22:39interesting speech you think paling interesting yes okay okay not per se speech but statement and i
22:47think the normal the uh the the usual uh for me is the late uh bong moktar i i think
22:55i don't have i don't
22:56have to explain right because he's a colorful uh character and then it's yeah it's said that he has uh
23:03yeah pass away so he is always the for journalists i think like you also you know what they have
23:09times yeah
23:10who should i call out to get good quotes and it's always bong so bong was like for me was
23:15the guy okay how
23:16about joehoe do you have anyone any uh very outstanding leader now young for for me from what
23:23appear up i think the the the one that that but it's a bit in a negative way okay i
23:30feel it's uh
23:31mostly is the one that keep on coming up but it's very negative like that day i didn't know that
23:35he was
23:36an actor so i was like watching i thought hey is this ai or what and then his thing was
23:41very interesting
23:41because he used the word uh what is it uh apam basha or something okay so they called him uh
23:48apam balik so they call him apam malik oh my god so i i feel that he's having a very
23:53negative uh
23:55campaign so that's the one that i i always see and then the other one will be on on it
24:01but it's more
24:01positive you can see that he's there and then the third one and guess who he's not contesting tapi he
24:08always he's not contesting but he is and then he's contesting his party is contesting 15 seats but
24:14he keep on appearing on my uh fb guess who who was uh uh rafi z oh do you oh
24:21yeah on appearing on your
24:22life yeah he's like uh always there i will see the summer i become very yellow so yeah the financial
24:30body so these are the one two three that are like yeah making me awake at night okay in terms
24:38of now
24:38talking about uh technology and campaigning do you think ai has transformed our campaigning because
24:45from your experience when you look at ai yes ada it makes it easier to create poster and everything okay
24:52but i think the voters are clever enough that they know ai is ai so i think in the end
24:59you i think
25:00the especially the young generation the gen z they want to see you as you right uh you know you
25:06can
25:06make mistake they want to see the real real you yes so for me in on fb or even tiktok
25:12you want to see
25:14a candidate talking right right and then they are they see the real you although i think one politician
25:22made a mistake he did he did an irl which i don't know is in real life in real life
25:28like
25:28like he jalan and everything and then he did i think the cameraman didn't know oh yeah life their
25:34life can they showed him vaping oh dear so then yeah then then then yeah so so he showed himself
25:41la tapi i think it was not good messaging i think a bit of mistake by that particular politician with
25:48the
25:48yellow color i understand yes because some uh candidates they have like thousands and thousands
25:53of followers on like various uh social media platform so do you think uh most of does that
26:00translate to votes okay i'll take a look at your question okay said sadik has i think one of the
26:06highest followers right right right but muda is not using uh his star or his social media influence
26:13is that so that one is a bit strange but maybe it's because he's waiting for his court case to
26:20what but yeah i i do think that uh when you have followers it will help you in terms of
26:25votes okay
26:26uh okay before we finish can you describe a few words of the political uh political scene you know
26:35into the 2026 now 2026 how many you describe any uh okay for me number i just i i find
26:42uh
26:43first of all is very fluid very fluid because like you think this is what happening what is
26:49going to happen like people will tell me field this is what will happen tap tap tap tap tap tap
26:54then it doesn't happen then then then it's it's not you this i actually i really learned this
27:01during the anwar when he was sacked it's like uh you correct me yeah okay uh what you call this
27:07manusia merancang tuhan uh okay uh yeah you can decide everything you can plan everything yeah but
27:16you decide yeah god will decide so actually that's the theme it's not only 2026 when you look at who
27:22became pm or how things happen like you you know i i do listen you know they want to do
27:28a b c then
27:29you're like wow and then you write about it but then actually that that happens so in the end you
27:35can plan you as a politician you can plan and then if god decides that he has a different plan
27:41right
27:42you're out actually so i think being fluid fluid is i think it's the the what is the malaysian
27:49politics word of so you think yes yes i agree with you i agree with you okay i think uh
27:55thank you
27:55thank you philip for today uh okay thank you everyone for uh for following us if you enjoyed
28:02today's episode please follow us uh at our official site the star online thank you so much
28:19you
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