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Malaysia election 2022
This Week in AsiaPeople

Malaysia election: ethnic Chinese voters long for return of multiracial politics under Pakatan Harapan

  • Malaysian-Chinese have long felt dissatisfaction with pervasive racial policies and politics that place a premium on the Malay majority’s interests
  • A new survey shows many now want multicultural Pakatan Harapan back in power, with Anwar Ibrahim their preferred choice of PM – by a wide margin

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Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks at a Pakatan Harapan convention last month. Photo: Bloomberg
Hadi Azmi
Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese voters are expected to turn out in force to cast their ballots in the general election on November 19, as they hope for a return to a multiracial government like the one that was displaced by a political coup two years ago.
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Four out of five ethnic Chinese respondents to a survey published last month said they would, or are very likely to, vote in the coming national polls. Just 11 per cent of those answering the survey, which targeted voters in key Chinese-majority constituencies and was funded by the Huayan Policy Institute and the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, said they were undecided about whether to vote or not.

There was even greater consensus among the more than 2,000 respondents about who they want in charge, with nine out of 10 naming the Pakatan Harapan coalition – which briefly held power following a landslide 2018 election win under two-time Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – in partnership with other political parties or coalitions that are perceived to be multiracial.
Pakatan Harapan supporters celebrate the coalition’s victory in the 2018 Malaysian general election. Photo: Reuters
Pakatan Harapan supporters celebrate the coalition’s victory in the 2018 Malaysian general election. Photo: Reuters

The survey’s findings are a reflection of underlying sentiments that persist among Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese, who have long felt dissatisfaction with pervasive racial policies and politics that place a premium on the interests of the Malay majority over other citizens, according to James Chai, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

“Most Chinese continue to prefer the Pakatan Harapan coalition primarily because of the multiracial promise,” Chai said.

The Chinese vote was a key driver behind the watershed 2018 election result, which led to the country’s first-ever change of government in more than six decades. Voters, angered by rising living costs and allegations of rampant corruption by ruling party leaders, booted out the Umno party and the Barisan Nasional coalition that it leads.

But the Pakatan Harapan administration collapsed just 22 months into its term, as several leaders in then-coalition partner Bersatu orchestrated a coup – aided by Umno and Islamist party PAS – to form a Malay-nationalist government led by Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin.
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