In run-up to polls, Umno earns royal approval from Perak Regent

Raja Nazrin (left) inspects an honour guard before the start of the state assembly sitting in Ipoh, March 30, 2010. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 ― Umno earned high praise yesterday from Perak Regent Raja Dr Nazrin Shah who said the country’s largest Malay-based party has proven its worth in serving the ummah (Muslims) well and would likely continue to lead Malaysia.

According to a New Straits Times report, the royal leader, during a discourse on Malay unity at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), had singled out the party’s “humility” and “modesty” as key reasons why even the non-Malays find it easy to accept Umno’s ideology,

“Under its leadership, Umno has introduced various innovations and transformations to help the country move closer towards achieving developed nation status,” the English daily quoted Raja Nazrin as saying.

“The success of Umno leading the country is because of its vision. Their humility and modesty makes it easy for non-Malays to accept their ideology,” he reportedly added.

The Perak Regent’s praise for the ruling Umno comes at a time when the party is poised to face a general election that observers believe will be the most closely-fought battle in Malaysian history.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin and its coalition partners will be pitted against its foes in Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a pact now considered to be the country’s most formidable opposition force so far.

Much focus will be on votes from youths and women, and particularly on the Malays, who make up the majority of the country’s 13.3 million registered voters and who have long been considered BN’s vote bank.

But since Election 2008, it has been repeatedly observed by politicians across the divide and analysts that the Malays have grown more fractured over the years and are largely split in their support for BN and PR.

Raja Nazrin blamed these fractures on the unending quest for power among the Malays, saying they have become too obsessed with slogans, emblems and symbols of their parties, according to national news agency Bernama.

“If there is a voice calling for the position of the Malays to be protected, it is denounced as being racist, regarded as detrimental to their strategic struggle, and deemed offensive to other races,” he was quoted as saying.

Raja Nazrin also criticised those who deliberately portray themselves as “less Malay” for the sake of political expediency, saying the fight for political power should not be used as a licence to sacrifice the status of the Malays.

“There is nothing wrong for the Malays to join any kabilah (community, system) as long as they can reach consensus, stand united, preserve, protect and manage matters affecting the rights, honour and dignity of the Malays and Islam without in any way compromising them,” he reportedly said, according to the Bernama report.

Election 2013 must be held by June, following the expiry of the Najib administration’s five-year mandate this April 28.

According to sources recently, the ruling BN is confident of winning at least 145 parliamentary seats in the coming polls, including recapturing several Umno seats lost in 2008.

The Malaysian Insider understands that BN’s projections are about 10 seats above surveys done by Malaysian intelligence agencies, which said the ruling coalition is only sure of 135 seats, five below the 140 won in Election 2008. BN now has 136 seats in the 222-seat parliament.

The number is still below the key two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat that BN has enjoyed until the elections in March 2008, and used to push key laws without support from the opposition bench.

BN will need to win 148 seats to have the super-majority in the coming election.

BN’s historic loss of the parliament super-majority and four states in Election 2008 was widely blamed on former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who resigned in April 2009 in favour of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Since then, the country’s sixth prime minister has introduced a slew of initiatives and has promised a slate of “winnable candidates” to win over support for BN, which has ruled since independence as the three-party Alliance before enlarging itself to include other parties in 1974 and changing its name.

Najib remains more popular than his party although his approval rating fell to 63 per cent last December, down from 65 per cent in November, the lowest since he received 59 per cent support in August 2011, the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research said last month. The survey included 1,018 voters and had a margin of error of about 3 per cent.