Regionalism and Electoral Support in Peninsular Malaysia

This paper attempts to examine the political affiliation in the four geographical regions of Peninsular Malaysia. Election returns for Parliamentary Constituencies between 1969 and 1990 were tabulated and correlated with the ethnic composition of the electorate in respective regions. The finding shows that political party support was regionalised. The Barisan Nasional (BN) support was based in the Northern, Central and Southern Regions, but it seem to be stable only in the Northern Region over the period. On the opposition side, the Parti Islam se Malaysia (PAS) and Semangat 46 (S46) were confined in the Eastern Region. The urban constituencies of the Northern and Central Regions were the Democratic Action Party's (DAP) stronghold. It seems that the majority of the Malay electorate still supported the BN, while the Chinese support towards the BN was not encouraging and moderate for the Indians in all regions. On the whole the patterns of political support were very closely related with the ethnic composition of the electorate in individual region. ABSTRAK Kertas ini cuba membincangkan kecenderungan politik di empat wilayah geografi Semenanjung Malaysia. Keputusan pilihanraya kawasan parlimen antara 1969 dan 1990 telah di tabulasi dan di korelasi dengan peratusan komposisi pengundi mengikut ethnik di Wilayah tersebut. Hasil kajian menunjukkan sokongan parti politik adalah mengikut sesuatu wilayah. Sokongan Barisan Nasional (BN) adalah di Wilayah Utara, Tengah dan Selatan, tetapi memperlihatkan bahawa sokongan BN hanya stabil di Wilayah Utara dalam jangka masa kajian. Bagi pembangkang, Parti Islam se Malaysia (PAS) dan Semangat 46 (S46) berpusat di Wilayah Timur Semenanjung. Di kawasan bandar di Wilayah Utara dan Tengah adalah kubu Democratic Action Party (DAP). la juga memperlihatkan kebanyakan pengundi Melayu masih menyokong parti BN, sementara sokongan pengundi China terhadap BN tidak berapa menggalakkan dan bagi kaum India sokongan mereka adalah sederhana di semua wilayah. Pada keseluruhannya, pola sokongan parti politik amat berkait rapat dengan jumlah peratusan komposisi ethnik pengundi di sesuatu kawasan.