Oh said the Melaka election was Muhyiddin’s “Waterloo moment”. However, it was still possible for him to recover from the worst of defeats.
Muhyiddin will need to soldier on, as Barisan Nasional (BN) will be “back with a vengeance” now that they have scored a huge victory, he added.
The coalition won 21 of 28 seats, Umno winning 18, MCA 2 and MIC 1.
Political scientist Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia said Muhyiddin could salvage his political career if he managed to sway some form of cooperation with BN in the new state government as the two coalitions are partners in the federal government.
“Plus, Zahid had said earlier that BN is open to speaking with any party should the election results not favour them,” he said.
Fauzi said the Melaka election results provided an early picture of what would transpire at the next general election (GE15).
“PN’s defeat was predicted by many analysts. The major drawback for the coalition was the absence of strong grassroots support among Melakans. Plus, Muhyiddin does not have Mahathir’s ‘aura’ to pull votes from the Malays, which helped Bersatu to win GE14.
“Without Mahathir – who was touted as the defender of Malays – the party is nothing and their politicians have to realise this fact. If they don’t do something, their political careers will end,” he said.
Fauzi said BN’s performance proved that Malay voters’ loyalty towards the coalition and Umno was “beyond question” and that Malay voters were not swayed by talk of corruption among party leaders who are part of the so-called “court cluster”.
He attributed Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) loss to the low voter turnout. “PH would have been able to win this election if the voter turnout hovered around 70%,” he said. The turnout was 61% according to the Election Commission.
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