Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin's religious remarks to voters in Johor by-election may 'backfire': Analysts 

KUALA LUMPUR: Days after allegedly making a remark that sparked controversy, former Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has said that his comments that it was “haram” - or forbidden - to vote for the opposing candidate in an upcoming by-election in Johor were taken out of context. 

Meanwhile, political observers whom CNA spoke to said that Muhyiddin’s comments may backfire owing to Johor’s multi-ethnic racial composition as compared to his coalition’s stronghold in the northern part of Malaysia.  

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Sep 6), Muhyiddin - who is also Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman - dismissed allegations that he had told supporters at a rally that it was forbidden to vote for Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the Pulai parliamentary seat in the coming by-election.

The by-elections for the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state seats in Johor will be held on Sep 9. Both by-elections were called following the death of Member of Parliament and assemblyman Salahuddin Ayub on Jul 23 due to brain haemorrhage.

Muhyiddin on Wednesday stressed that his speech at the rally was manipulated and taken out of context. 

"They manipulated my speech. I had a long speech and touched on many issues faced by the people, especially the cost of living which the PH government failed to resolve.

"That is why I called for voters in Pulai not to vote for Pakatan candidate Suhaizan Kaiat,” he said. 

Muhyiddin added that as someone who understands religious laws, he could not just issue any religious decrees.

"I did not issue a 'fatwa' (Islamic decree) that it was ‘haram’ (forbidden) to vote for the Pakatan candidate," he said. 

In responding to the issue, Muhyiddin, however, did not mention the probe that he is expected to cooperate with the police. 

According to The Star, police are set to record Muhyiddin’s statement on Tuesday after the latter had made the request.

"He had to tend to some urgent matters, so he asked for the postponement," Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain reportedly said on Thursday.

Last Saturday, Muhyiddin allegedly claimed that it was forbidden to vote for Mr Suhaizan in the Pulai parliamentary by-election on Sep 9.

According to local media, Muhyiddin reportedly made the remark seemingly in jest during the coalition’s rally at Taman Kempas in Johor which drew laughter from the crowd.

"Do not give even one vote to Suhaizan, the ex-(Johor) speaker. I deem it as ‘haram’.

"Tomorrow someone will challenge me which fatwa (Islamic decree) this was based on," he was quoted as saying by The Star. 

Following this, police confirmed that two reports have been lodged over the issue, according to The Star. 

In his statement on Wednesday, Muhyiddin also noted that he would not casually issue any fatwas as only the Fatwa Council has the authority to do so after consulting scholars and experts.

He said the term “haram” in his speech was “simply a figure of speech” and that he had not intended for it to be interpreted literally.

Muhyiddin was being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for allegedly issuing a statement that created public fear and anxiety and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the police reportedly said earlier. 

Subsequently, Muhyiddin’s remark drew criticism from the mufti of different states in Malaysia. 

"Any statements that divide the unity and confuse the people of Johor must cease and be avoided at all cost,” the Johor mufti Yahya Ahmad was quoted as saying by New Straits Times, adding that fatwas can only be issued by the decree of the Sultan of Johor. 

According to Berita Harian, following this issue, Kelantan mufti Shukri Mohamad also advised the politicians to refrain themselves from arbitrarily declaring something “haram” as touching on Islamic law could only lead to disputes. 

IMPACT OF MUHYIDDIN’S MESSAGE ON VOTERS IN JOHOR

Observers whom CNA spoke to said that the controversy arising from the issue may potentially affect PN’s standing in the state due to Johor’s multi-ethnic racial composition. 

“For voters in Johor, as we know that they are in the urban and semi-urban (residents), their ideologies are different as compared to (voters) in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah,” said Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Dr Azmi Hassan. 

Though Muhyiddin clarified that the term he used was “simply a figure of speech”, political analyst Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya believed that the PN chairman’s message may backfire, given that the Pulai seat is a PH stronghold.

“It will affect the decision of the voters, especially the Chinese voters, who are angry, (at) how Muhyiddin easily used the word, linking it to elements of Islam,” he said. 

As a consequence, he added that this issue would negatively impact PN’s efforts to win in both by-elections. 

Prof Awang feels that this case shone a bad light on Muhyiddin as a lawmaker in Johor as he seems to appear as “desperate” to get support from voters. 

“So, this could have an impact on PN's efforts to win as they are seemingly desperate to win the two by-elections while many Malays (supporters), whether they are PH or BN, are uneasy with the term that invokes religious elements,” he said. 

Dr Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said the issue would churn out more non-Malay voters on polling day as they fear a PN win may hasten and usher in a Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS)-dominated theocracy in the country. 

PAS is a component party of PN. 

“The by-elections would test out if this sort of multiracial chumminess would still hold in Johor, or has it become more polarised in even supposedly more urbanised states such as Selangor and Penang where PN made significant electoral inroads,” said Dr Oh. 

During the six state polls last month, PN coalition made significant inroads in the state assemblies of Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan, winning 22, 11 and five seats respectively. 

Of these, PAS won 10 seats in Selangor, seven in Penang and three in Negeri Sembilan. 

On the other hand, he did not rule out that the issue would have a positive effect of churning out even more Malay voters.

“This is because the gist of his message – essentially insinuating that it was religiously forbidden to vote for PH – would actually resonate with an increasingly conservative and religiously inspired Malay electorate,” Dr Oh told CNA.