The rejection of the politics of ethnic sentiments in contemporary Malaysia: The case of the 2009 Bukit Selambau, Kedah by-election

Ethnic sentiments had always predominated the Malaysian political scenes ever since the country’s independence from the British rule in 1957 due to the peculiar colonial legacy of the ethnic factor in the demographic and economic structures of the country. However, this long accepted and practiced politics of ethnic sentiments was challenged and rejected in a number of states, including Kedah, during the general elections of 2008. This paper analyses public opinions before the Bukit Selambau, Kedah 2009 byelection and compares the findings with the actual result of the by-election. Overall, results of the public opinion analysis demonstrated that 41.2, 45.5 and 41.1 percent of Malay, Chinese and Indian respondents respectively expected that the PKR would retain Bukit Selambau. This expectation was vindicated by the actual results of the by-election held on 7th. April 2009. The by-election verdict indicated the rejection of the Barisan Nasional’s politics of ethnic sentiments in favour of the PKR’s ‘Makkal Sakthi’ (people’s power) ideology. It also denotes the logic of local electorates in wanting to vote in a candidate with the highest chances of being appointed a member of the powerful state executive committe. It signals, too, the imperative of some serious soul searching and detailed post mortem on the part of the vanquished Barisan Nasional if it were to fare well in future elections.