Malaysians across the racial divide all agree that the 13th general election should be described as a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ rather than a ‘Chinese tsunami’, according to a study.

NONE It found that 65.8 percent of Malays, 93.2 percent of the Chinese, 87.6 percent of Indians, 68.1 percent of Muslim bumiputeras and 79.7 percent of non-Muslim bumiputeras are more favourable to describing the election results as a ‘Malaysian tsunami’.

“Most of the population thought that it was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’, and maybe anyone who thinks that it was a ‘Chinese tsunami’ are the Umno fellas who didn’t win,” joked Centre for Strategic Engagement (Cense) director Rita Sim ( left ).

Sim said this when presenting the findings of a survey conducted by her think-tank from May 10 to 13, which consists of face-to-face and phone interviews with 1,300 respondents nationwide.

The term ‘Chinese tsunami’ was coined by BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak, who attributed it as the cause of the ruling coalition’s worst-ever electoral performance.

However, Cense’s survey did find a racial divide on whether they accepted the election results.

Over a third of Malays, Muslim bumiputeras and non-Muslim bumiputeras each accepted the electoral results.

In contrast, correspondingly opposite proportions of Chinese and Indian voters rejected it.

Racial divide on Umno-PAS links

The survey again found a racial divide on whether Umno and PAS should have some form of alliance, merger, or cooperation.

Of the respondents, 75.3 percent of the Chinese and 65.3 percent of the Indians disagreed.

Meanwhile, 67.2 percent of the Malays and 65.3 percent of Muslim bumiputeras agreed with the idea. Non-Muslim bumiputeras were evenly split on the idea, with 49.3 percent agreeing or disagreeing.

“Our teams went right into the interior (of Sabah and Sarawak) and they were with the communities. PAS has penetrated quite deeply into some of the Muslim areas and they do want to see this alliance,” Sim said.

The respondents across the board also rejected the idea of an alliance between Umno and PKR, and - by a larger margin - an alliance between Umno and DAP.

Sim added that politicians had made the mistake of assuming that BN always had Chinese support, when it fact won due to an MCA fear campaign in the 1999 general election, which capitalised on killings targeting ethnic Chinese Indonesians in the post-Suharto period.

In 2004, the pent up anger was ‘postponed’ due to then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s retirement.

However in 2005, she said 10 non-Muslim ministers wanted to submit a memorandum to then-prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but this was withdrawn. Then in 2006, there was Hishammuddin Hussein’s ‘keris-wielding incident’ at an Umno general assembly.

“By the time 2008 came, they were really angry,” she said, pointing to the decline of Chinese support for BN from 65 percent in 2004 to 35 percent.

At the same time, Malay support dropped from 63 percent to 58 percent, while Indian support dropped from 82 percent to 47 percent.

'Pent-up anger'

Based on her survey, Sim said among the reasons for Chinese voter’s dissatisfaction were ‘pent-up anger’ over being treated as second class citizens, as well as class issues caused by income disparities.

In addition, the Chinese talent pool suffered a double-blow of brain drain and deterioration of skill sets, leading to lower incomes.

“Remember that one in four Chinese actually drop out of school by the age of 16, which may surprise you but is true,” she said.

Despite arguments that the Chinese vernacular schools remain separate, Sim said this has failed to increase competitiveness.

As for young Malay voters, she said they were under financial pressure, especially those earning below RM1,500, and were persuaded by Pakatan Rakyat’s promises to lower the cost of living.

“Actually, when we did our poll, we found that the Malays thought the Chinese were given too much and they were not given enough, and that is why they voted against (BN).

“So Chinese and Malays voters voted on wholly different reasons,” Sim said.