Civil servants' voting preference in state polls favors PN - Ilham Centre

SHAH ALAM - The voting pattern of the state election in the six states on Aug 12 shows that civil servants were more supportive of Perikatan Nasional (PN) based on research conducted by the Ilham Centre.

Ilham Centre's Executive Director Muhamad Hisommudin Bakar said based on interviews, it shows that civil servants are still trapped in the administration era of the eight prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said that civil servants do not switch their support to the Unity Government that governs now.

"Civil servants did not support the government because (there was an episode of) change in government administration.

"If you look at (previously) Barisan Nasional (BN) government, it changed to PN after the Sheraton Move incident.

"Then from PN (changed) to Pakatan Harapan (PH) or the Unity Government.

"So this group of civil servants is still trapped when the administration was under Muhyiddin.

"They were trapped there and did not change (support) to the Unity Government," he said.

He said this during a question and answer session in the Post 15th State General Election Discourse entitled 'Six State Elections: What Happened' which was broadcast live from the Academy of Malay Studies (APM), Universiti Malaya, today.

Muhamad Hisommudin previously also presented the findings of a study entitled Prediksi Akhir PRN, Prestasi PH Unggul, PN Kuasai Jajaran Melayu'.

The discourse also featured four other panels, namely Ilham Centre's Chief Researcher Associate Professor Dr Mohd Yusri Ibrahim who presented a report titled 'State Election Voting Patterns Forming Racial Polarisation' and Ilham Centre's Research Fellow, Mujibu Abd Muis (Treating the Malays: How Umno Needs to Be).

APM Senior Lecturer Dr Abdul Muqit Muhammad detailed the results of the study 'Understanding Young/First Time Voters' and Astro Awani Senior Editor, Nazri Kahar (Media: Performance Politics VS Sentiment).

Commenting further, Muhamad Hisommudin explained that from the civil servant segment, the teachers are now shifting towards supporting Pas or PN.

"These teachers used to be an asset to Umno-BN because in the past most of them openly supported BN but now it's the other way around, (they are seen) supporting Pas or PN.

"In my interview with the teachers in the schools they admitted that the current Education Minister is better (than the previous minister) but they still support PN," he said.

Muhamad Hisommudin said the situation also clearly shows the combination of Malay and Islamic narratives, if combined it gives PN an advantage.

"If in the past (identity) BN was only Malay, Pas only Muslim but now (when the Malay and Islamic narratives are combined), it gives an extraordinary combination," he explained.