Pakatan confident of winning Hulu Selangor

Confident of an opposition victory in Hulu Selangor, a local leader predicts that internal bickering could derail the ruling government's chances in safe guarding the parliamentary seat.

HULU SELANGOR: The Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, which was the focus of attention during a by-election in 2010, is expected to take the limelight again but this time for a different reason.

The seat, which has some 75,000 voters, gave the ruling Barisan Nasional a lifeline in the by-election after a string of losses at earlier by-elections starting after the historic 2008 general election.

The BN and its “winnable” candidate from MIC P Kamalanathan won the seat, beating prominent lawyer and then PKR leader Zaid Ibrahim by a 1,725 votes margin and the victory rejuvenated the ruling coalition to win subsequent by-elections.

While the BN romped home to victory then, a local PKR leader now says the tide has turned and the opposition would wrest the seat away from the ruling government.

K Ramachandran, PKR welfare and social bureau committee deputy chief, said there were “solid facts” to back his claim of the opposition winning the seat at the next elections.

The prominent businessman also rubbished claims that Pakatan had lost support in the seat, which is slightly smaller than the state of Perlis.

At the 12th general-election in 2008, PKR candidate Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad defeated MIC president G Palanivel with a slim majority of 198 votes.

BN also swept clean all the three state assembly seats under the parliamentary constituency. It obtained a 3,548 vote majority in Hulu Bernam, 2,179 majority in Batang Kali and 448 vote majority in Kuala Kubu Baru. The three seats provided a total 6,176 vote majority in favour of BN.

So, why did Palanivel lose with a 198 vote majority?

Political analysts had revealed that the dissatisfaction against the now MIC chief was the reason for the slim loss.

“After careful analysis we found that the 6,167 voters who voted BN in the state seats, never voted anyone when it came to the parliamentary seat. They boycotted the parliamentary election. So, we won the seat in the 2008 election,” Ramachandran told FMT recently.

Internal bickering in MIC

Ramachandran, better known as Datuk Rama, said Pakatan maintained it’s voter base in both the 2008 general election and the subsequent by-election receiving an average of 23,150 votes in both the polls.

“So, it is a clear cut case that fence sitters would once again decide on who the next Hulu Selangor MP would be,” he added.

The Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency comprises 54% Malays, 26% Chinese, 19% Indians and 1% others.

He said Indians were still backing the opposition, evident from a recent event which attracted more than 10,000 local Indians.

Ramachandran had organised the event, attended by PKR de facto chief Anwar Ibrahim alongside all party Indian leaders.

“The event is a sign that Pakatan will sweep Hulu Selangor. I also believe Indian voters will not make the same mistake they made in the 2010 by-election.

He said the support of Orang Asli voters would be another major factor in winning the seat. However, he said since he was “close” to the Orang Asli this would not be a problem.

“My family members are very close with the Orang Asli. We have been providing them with food and clothes for the last 40 years. I am certain they would vote BN out this time around,” he added.

He said another factor which points to an opposition victory, was the internal bickering among BN leaders in Hulu Selangor.

“There are two splinter camps in BN, one supporting incumbent MP Kamalanathan while another camp backs another local MIC leader. And both want to contest the seat under the BN banner.

“It would be difficult for them because when one is chosen as candidate the other would boycott or sabotage the other,” he added.

He said the opposition camp had factions in the past but now were working as a team to recapture the seat.