GE15: Another political tsunami?

SHAH ALAM - Observers and analysts have different views on whether or not there will be a political tsunami or massive rejection against any political party in the 15th General Election (GE15) later.

Some of them were of the view that even though there was less than a week left for the GE15 campaign period, there might not be a political tsunami or a massive change in the voter support patterns for either Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN) or Pakatan Harapan (PH) compared to 2018.

This, analysts said was because until today, there was no issue big enough, strong enough and capable enough to pose a threat to the country’s stability.

In GE14, the corruption scandal and misappropriation of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds became the reason why the people rejected BN which was then under the administration of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Political analyst Dr Mohammad Agus Yusoff said so far, there were no signs indicating that there will be a political tsunami or a wave of voter awakening, especially by fence-sitters and young voters on a large scale against any party.

Furthermore, Mohamad Agus said the combined strength of BN, PN and PH was seen as balanced and there were no unusual issues that could be used to attract the support of young voters and fence-sitters.

"I see that even though many people are angry and dissatisfied with the government's failure to control the increase in the prices of goods and the rising cost of living, it is not strong enough to trigger a wave of rejection of BN/Umno because they understand that the problem is a global issue.

"The flood issue is not the government’s fault, it is a natural phenomenon during the monsoon season and only involved certain locations.

"The same goes for the LRT (Light Rail Transit Service) disruption which only affected a small part of the population in the Klang Valley and does not affect voters in the other states," he told Sinar Premium.

Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics senior lecturer Dr Mazlan Ali did not rule out the possibility of voter rejection against BN following the revelation of the recent scandal and misappropriation of funds for the purchase of the littoral combat ships (LCS).

Mazlan

Mazlan said the LCS issue became a hot topic of discussion among the people after it was revealed by former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli in August.

"Rafizi's revelation caused many young voters and fence-sitters in the west coast of the peninsula, especially in the Klang Valley, to now return to supporting PH because the LCS issue has now become like another version of 1MDB scandal.

"They are of the view that Rafizi's revelation about the LCS case may be true just like the 1MDB case. Therefore, I believe that the LCS case will trigger a wave of people's awakening to reject BN," he said.