The state election will be a litmus test for the unity government and will determine whether the PKR-DAP-Barisan alliance can work together at grassroots levels. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

IT’S doubtless that when the elections in six states take place next month, the battleground between Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional will be jewel in the crown, Selangor.

As the most important state in the country, the results of the elections there will immensely impact the situation nationwide.

Selangor has been the stronghold of PKR – Pakatan’s lead party – for the last 15 years, or more significantly, three terms.

This time, at stake are 56 state seats, where Pakatan is expected to contest in 43 constituencies with Barisan Nasional doing likewise in 11.

This will be the first time Pakatan and Barisan, following the setting up of the Unity Government, will be working together as former rivals to thwart Perikatan.

While Pakatan still has a grip on the state, it’s evident that the coming state polls will be the fiercest ever. Voters in the Klang Valley, including Selangor, have always been pro-Pakatan, but Perikatan has been able to whittle that support, especially among Malays in the coastal areas.

Perikatan is eyeing capturing the northern part of Selangor, where most of the seats have predominantly Malay voters. The party will even want to make inroads in the southern and urban seats with strong Malay presence.

The coalition of Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan seems convinced that its Malay rights and religious narratives will work – even in Selangor.

The focus will be on Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat, Tanjung Karang, Sabak Bernam, Sungai Besar and Kapar – all Umno strongholds until the last general election. It’s the 14 state seats that Perikatan will want to capture although not all of them were directly won by the coalition during GE15 because they were the results of split votes among the contenders.

It will be a litmus test for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister and the unity government, and will determine whether the PKR-DAP-Barisan alliance can work together at grassroots levels.

Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi will also have to prove that he can deliver the crucial Malay votes.

A padi field in Tanjung Karang. This former Umno stronghold is one of the state seats that Perikatan will want to capture in the upcoming polls. — The Star

While there’s consensus at the leadership level, it’s much harder to convince and persuade the working level to campaign, let alone, vote for each other after years of acrimonious relationships.

After all, just over seven months ago, both sides had hurled bitter accusations at each other on the campaign trail and now, they are expected to tell their audience that they need to support each other.

Then, there are the Umno warlords who have been left out, or expelled from Umno, who are more than ready to trade blows with their party bosses for their humiliating exits.

The wounds are still raw, and surely they can’t be blamed for their disinterest in wanting to help their party.

PAS supporters are better at taking orders from their leaders – they had no problems campaigning for DAP under the former Barisan Alternatif pact and for Umno under the Muafakat Nasional pact.

For non-partisan voters with no political allegiance, Anwar and his Cabinet members must work harder to explain to them voter issues like the cost of living and the depreciating ringgit.

The perception now is that only Anwar and a few Pakatan ministers are on the offensive.

Where are the rest of the ministers and top Pakatan leaders who should be pitching in to defend the unity government?

Even worse, some have shot themselves in the foot with their brash and ill-advised remarks and actions. Perikatan has been quick to catch them and strike, and that’s expected at this juncture.

Silence is clearly golden for the government appointed Islamic scholars against PAS, which suggests they fear challenging the Islamist party.

PAS leaders have gained ground among sections of Malays where Pakatan has compromised Malay interests because of DAP, and now, the red lines have been crossed as the politics of fear are being whipped up.

It may seem unbelievable but there are enough Malay voters who believe their interests are being challenged.

At the social media level, even PAS scholars have learnt fast and furiously as they, or their team, have bombarded TikTok with their daily messages to reach young voters.

As part of the psychological warfare, both sides have come up with purported surveys. It isn’t likely that Kedah will fall into Pakatan hands and likewise, Selangor and Penang will probably retain the status quo.

In both states, many of the seats are mixed or Chinese-majority, with the Malay-majority seats centred on Penang’s mainland, while in Selangor, there are about 30 Malay areas from the 56 seats.

In Penang, there are 40 seats with PKR holding 12, DAP 19 and Amanah two with Umno. Both Perikatan and PAS had one each, with four Bersatu state assemblymen who got booted out.

There are possible dents by Perikatan this time in these two states, but it will be difficult to dislodge Pakatan.

A pre-election survey among Malay voters in Selangor found there is no significant vote transferability between Pakatan and Barisan.

According to a study done in March by Marzuki Mohamad and Khairul Syakirin Zulkifli – published by the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute – Malay voters are more likely to transfer their votes from Barisan to Perikatan candidates instead of Pakatan candidates.

A good turn-out by Chinese voters is crucial in this state polls. The community has a history of low turnout in by-elections, but their presence could be crucial here. Out-of-state and overseas voters also won’t be motivated to return home to cast their votes but will do so via postal ballots.

This certainly won’t be an ordinary state poll, but it will be fought as fiercely as in a general election. Expect the political temperature to shoot up as race and religion come into play. While the police have given ample warnings that the 3Rs – race, religion and royalty – are taboo, it’s most likely that these errant politicians will snub our police.

But it will come at a grave cost to Malaysians if this is the chosen approach.

The interests of the nation and its people are invariably more important than the selfish ambitions of the politicians.

IF we are expecting PAS to leave non-Muslims alone to practise their own lifestyles, then we must be naïve.

The Kota Baru Municipal Council has agreed to cancel the fine imposed on a non-Muslim boutique owner for “indecent” attire after a discussion with the Local Government Department director-general.

“The woman should not have paid the fine, as she may have been misled to do so. She wore shorts in her own shop, which sells shorts,” Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming told a press conference yesterday.

However, the council’s severe action, according to the interpretation of its enforcement officer, isn’t the first.

Previously, unisex hair salons in the PAS-run state had been penalised for opening their doors to both genders. The authorities have imposed separate check-outs in its supermarkets and cinemas have long been shut down.

For those of us outside of Kelantan, we can protest our hearts out at this form of overreaction, but the reality is that the officer was reportedly acting within his rights.

After all, it has been reported that there is the Kelantan Business and Industrial Trade By-Laws 2019, under Section 34 (2) (b), which stipulates that non-Muslim business licensees must ensure they and their non-Muslim workers wear decent clothes. If their employees are Muslims, they should wear attire covering their aurat (modesty).

The trouble is the criteria for modest dressing, in the eyes of PAS leaders and even the security guards at our government offices, are always different.

In the latest case, a woman was stopped by a Rela member from entering a Socso office in Penang for “indecent dressing”.

Over-reaction?: A boutique owner was fined for ‘indecent’ attire for wearing shorts at her shop in Kota Baru last Sunday. — Facebook/Others

Fortunately, Socso issued a statement on Friday to set the record straight that there were no instructions given by its management to bar visitors from entering its Penang office because of their attire.

And just two weeks ago, the PAS MP for Kuantan took issue with nurses’ uniform. Almost all our Muslim nurses in hospitals wear slacks and headscarves but to this PAS MP, it is still not enough. He finds their uniforms provocative, weird as it may sound.

I have a reader who sends me critical emails on a regular basis. Nothing wrong with disagreeing voices as discourse, especially constructive criticism, is healthy. No one, especially public figures, is spared from scrutiny.

Like some of my peers, I have lodged police reports when threats were received. And legal letters were dispatched when defamatory remarks were made.

But in most cases, we chose to ignore such critics, who seemed to have plenty of time or need mental help.

In fact, most journalists consider it a hazard of scribes. If we wish to pen critical pieces, then we must also be prepared to come under the microscope.

This person, who hides behind a pseudonym in his emails, would call me all sorts of names but has never taken up my challenge that he rebuts my comments with an intelligent, substantive, and persuasive argument.

Recently, he criticised my article on the subject of nurses’ attire. In his support of the PAS MP, he sent a link which showed that nurses were all covered up in the United Kingdom – except that it was an illustration of nurses during the Victorian age!

Some simple detective work revealed the regular critic to be a chemistry professor at a public university in Kuala Lumpur.

But the point is this. While we have a right to different opinions and it must be respected, it is something else when supposedly learned people holding high positions in institutions send anonymous, cryptic messages with bizarre and even defamatory messages which sounds threatening.

We have come to a point where enforcement officers and the “pak guard” at government buildings carry out their duties without any respect for the rights of non-Muslims under the Federal Constitution.

It has gone to ridiculous lengths, pardon the pun. In many cases, we are not even talking about non-Muslim women wearing mini-skirts or pants but proper skirts, which were deemed improper.

In February, a businesswoman was barred from using the elevator at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council for improper dressing although the hemline of her dress reached her mid-calf.

“I’m a 60-year-old woman. It does not make sense for me to dress scantily or wear inappropriate clothing in public,” she was quoted as saying in The Star.

These are other cases where common sense was not used. A woman, who was in shorts, wanted to lodge a report about an accident at the Kajang police station on Jan 30. She was told to change into something “more appropriate” before she was allowed entry.

Just two weeks after the controversy, news emerged that a woman was scolded by a medical worker at Hospital Kampar for being “indecently dressed”.

Nobody wants to go to a hospital unless it’s necessary, so it was commendable of the Health Minister to speak out against it, but in many other cases, the superiors seem defensive or protective of their own staff.

Even the guys are not spared.

Seven men wearing shorts in Tanah Merah, Kelantan, were given warning by the Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Department in March. Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said that Muslim men should not wear clothes that expose their knees. Shorts are okay but they must cover the knees, he said.

And over in Terengganu, the state government has remained firm on its ban on unisex hair salons. Those who break the gender-segregation rule can be fined between RM500 and RM1,000.

After 66 years of independence, there is rising concern among people that the plural Malaysia that we know of is losing its moderate identity.

While we have grown accustomed to the use of race and religion during elections, the tone this time is much more unsettling.

Non-Muslims have every reason to fear that their rights and welfare are being jeopardised.

Their perception is that not many Muslim national leaders, regardless of their affiliations, are prepared to speak up for the minorities now as the fight for the crucial predominant Malay votes heats up.

The coming state polls in six states may not change the position of the Federal Government but Malaysians in these states have a responsibility to send the right message about the Malaysia that they want to protect.