INTERVIEW | The play on racial and religious fears has for decades proved to be a potent weapon for Umno leaders against the opposition, particularly DAP.

Now on the receiving end as part of the opposition coalition, Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir smiled sheepishly and admitted guilt for being party to such tactics.

"Looking at Umno, when there were big issues which we could not address, we would talk about DAP, Chinese chauvinism and how Lim Kit Siang becoming prime minister would destroy Malaysia, that the Malays would disappear, and the mosques can no longer air the azan.

"I admit that I too have said such things, in front of a 100 percent Malay audience. Thinking back, I feel guilty and a sense of regret," he told Malaysiakini in an interview.

Mukhriz said that as DAP was opposed to Umno, it was made into a bogeyman and a symbol of everything that the country’s largest party stood against.

Contrary to the polemical attacks, he now concedes that Malays under the DAP-led Penang government are being well taken care of.

Political realities

Mukhriz also acknowledged that Umno’s strategies could negatively impact race relations, and said he has given a lot of thought to how Bersatu can be different, despite also being a Malay party.

He said political realities, as seen in the 13th general election, necessitate a Malay party like Bersatu.

"This is a question that we often put thought into – what is Bersatu’s positioning compared to Umno?

“In the early stages, we had friends in Pakatan Harapan criticising us for wanting to form a race-based party.

"But we must understand how Umno won its rural seats, which helped them win the general election, even though the opposition won 51 percent of the popular vote," he said.

Mukhriz added, however, that appealing to the rural Malay heartland can be achieved without inflammatory rhetoric and hurting other communities.

"It is clear that Umno’s racial rhetoric is sometimes taken to a level that affects ethnic relations and this, we must surely avoid.

"Bersatu defends Malay privileges, such as Islam as the religion of the federation, Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, the sovereignty (of the Malay rulers) – all these are in the Federal Constitution and is natural to all members of Harapan.

"But there is no need to draw the keris, challenge other races, or cause anger among different ethnic groups," he said.

This was a reference to Hishammuddin Hussein (photo), Umno Youth leader at the time, unsheathing a keris during the party’s 2005 youth assembly. The move had come to symbolise Umno’s turn to right-wing politics.

Hishammuddin, now Umno vice-president, later conceded that the keris-wielding act had caused BN to lose support among non-Malay voters in the 2008 general election.

‘Not Muslim enough’

Elaborating on Bersatu, Mukhriz also defended criticism against his party for not being "Malay or Muslim enough."

"We are talking about the fight against corruption, alleviating poverty – how is that not Islamic? Are you telling me this is not what the Malays want?

"We want to improve governance. We don’t say we want to fight corruption because this is taught in the Quran, there is no need to mention this, we all know what this and all religions talk about the evils of corruption," he said.

Led by Mahathir, Bersatu was formed in September 2016. Like Umno, the party it splintered from, it is considered a Malay nationalist party.

While those from the non-bumiputera community can join the party as associate members, they are not eligible to vote and contest in party elections. Qualified individuals, however, can be appointed to party posts.

Bersatu joined Harapan in March last year.

Harapan’s predecessor, Pakatan Rakyat, won 50.9 percent of the popular vote in GE13, but only gained 89 seats in Parliament, or 40 percent of the total seats.

Umno singlehandedly won almost as many seats as the entire opposition coalition, winning in 88 constituencies, the lion’s share of 133 seats won by BN.

The party relied heavily on Malay-majority constituencies in semi-rural and rural constituencies, which have disproportionate representation allegedly due to gerrymandering.

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