Rush for military vote in GE13

The military is a key vote bank for BN. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — PKR has set its sights on some 250,000 voters living in police barracks and military camps nationwide who traditionally vote for Barisan Nasional (BN) ahead of Election 2013.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component party hopes to capitalise on the influence of former military personnel who have joined its ranks to “educate” the military on issues that impact their livelihoods, such as recent use of the Armed Forces pension fund (LTAT) to buy out a firm belonging to carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan and Wanita Umno’s Raja Datuk Ropiaah Abdullah.

“The current issues involving Deepak and the LTAT, I believe they must be well articulated on the ground so these military personnel can understand what their government is doing to their money,” PKR’s chief election strategist Azmin Ali told The Malaysian Insider in a recent interview.

He noted that it was not possible for PKR to lead its campaigners into police stations, naval base or any military camp, but pointed out that the party finally has a link to these servicemen — through the few personalities from the military that have joined the party’s ranks.

Top of the list is retired Royal Malaysian Air Force Brigadier-General Datuk Abdul Hadi Abdul Khattab, who joined the party in November 2011 and currently sits as PKR’s security committee chairman.

“So we will make use of General Hadi and a few other personnel to reach out to these military and armed forces to explain the issues. That will be our focus,” said Azmin, the PKR deputy president.

However, BN’s Pulai MP Datuk Nurjazlan Mohamed believed that the armed forces and police remain a key vote bank for the coalition, citing the ruling government’s policies that benefit the security forces.

“The armed forces do not necessarily agree with PKR and DAP’s language on certain issues, so that won’t resonate well with them. Like their plan to reduce the size of the civil service or open up the army to more races,” Nurjazlan told The Malaysian Insider.

Nurjazlan also said he has about 1,000 police voters in Pulai who are all supportive of BN.

However, Azmin said the party will soon hold a press conference to announce more military recruits into PKR and discuss plans for affordable healthcare and housing for former servicemen of lower ranks.

There are an estimated 250,000 military voters spread out across 25 parliamentary constituencies nationwide. They include personnel in the police force, army, air force and navy.

The military vote has often been a traditional support base for the ruling BN, and despite the PKR push BN politicians and pundits do not expect a major change in voting patterns in GE13, given that much funds are being spent on upgrading camps and welfare schemes for military personnel.