PETALING JAYA: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s claim that the Malay voter turnout was lower than that of other races in the recent general election (GE15) is baseless, says a political analyst.
Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham Malaysia said data she collected showed Malays made up the highest percentage of voters compared with other races.
“The lower voter turnout rate of the Chinese and other non-Malay ethnic groups refutes Hadi’s claim,” she told FMT.
Hadi previously claimed that 98% of non-Muslims, including those from overseas, voted in GE15 to “support DAP”.
In an open letter to Muslims who did not vote in GE15, he claimed only 60% of Muslims voted in GE15. He then warned that those who did not vote might have committed a sin “as they had disobeyed God’s command as stated by the Prophet Muhammad”.
She said Hadi’s claims were a continuation of his narrative that Malays were being politically threatened, adding that this was not supported by data.
According to Welsh, her analysis showed that the turnout rate of Malay voters in GE15 was 79%, followed by Indian voters (78%), Chinese voters (69%) and other races (59%).
She said that although the Malay turnout was higher than that of other races, not all of them supported Perikatan Nasional (PN), of which PAS is a component.
“Of the Malays who did vote, only 54% supported PN,” she added.
According to data from the Election Commission (EC), a total of 21,173,638 Malaysians voted in GE15 compared with 14,940,624 in GE14. This was mainly due to the amendments to the law allowing those aged 18 and above to vote, as well as the implementation of automatic voter registration.
