KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — The reason for Umno’s dismal performance at the six state elections last Saturday is due to simmering unhappiness among the Malay electorate, according to the party’s former Selangor leader Tan Sri Noh Omar.

The former six-term Tanjong Karang MP claimed Malay voters were angry with Umno because the party had strayed from its original principles by teaming up with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that had long been its political rival, The Star reported today.

"Now the Malays feel that Umno is a follower, especially after teaming up with PH.

"As far as the Malays are concerned, it is okay if the party is the Opposition. It must lead and not follow,” Noh was quoted as saying.

The PH-BN alliance that formed to take on the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Opposition won a total of 34 seats in Selangor out of 56.

Former one-term Jeram assemblyman Mohd Shaid Rosli told The Star that many Umno supporters in the state’s north either abstained from voting last Saturday or cast their ballots for PN in a show of protest.

"Only the Indians and PKR Malay supporters came out in full force to vote, while most of the Chinese remained home.

"As for the protesting Umno supporters, some stayed home and the remaining ones voted for the PN candidate,” he was quoted as saying.

Jeram is one of three state seats under the greater parliamentary constituency of Kuala Selangor, the other two being Bukit Melawati and Ijok.

PN component party Bersatu won Kuala Selangor in last November’s 15th general election in a straight fight against Umno’s Datuk Jahaya Ibrahim. Mohd Shaid claimed that Malay voters in the area were not protesting against PH or the alliance’s Kuala Selangor candidate Datuk Jahaya Ibrahim back then, but Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"Actually, the loss was not because the voters disliked Pakatan or Jahaya. Their grouse was with Umno president Zahid Hamidi, whom they feel is running the party like it’s his personal conglomerate,” he was quoted as saying.

But Selangor Wanita Umno chief Datuk Rosni Sohar told The Star that the electoral losses in the state’s northern belt could be because the Malay voters lacked clarity about the new dynamics in the PH-BN unity government.

"It’s been a short while since the unity government was formed, and many do not understand how it functions.

"The other side used religion and many other issues to campaign. The people must see what exactly the three states the other side won offer their people,” the former Hulu Bernam assemblyman was quoted as saying.

She was referring to the three states that have been under Islamist PAS control and remained after last Saturday’s elections — Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

She said there was a need to explain the new collaboration between BN and PH to the local Malay voters.

She said that PKR-led Selangor has comprehensive welfare programmes that provided coverage from birth to death, have outperformed the three PAS states.

"We need to go down to the ground and explain to the people about the things that they are unclear about,” she was quoted as saying.