Can Umno retain its bastions in KL?

PETALING JAYA: Will BN be able to hold on to its Kuala Lumpur bastions of Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa in the coming general election?

Political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of Universiti Utara Malaysia says the ruling coalition had better watch out. He told FMT the slim majorities Umno got in both constituencies in the 2013 election was a strong indication that Malay voters in the city were becoming more and more anti-establishment.

Both Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa are Malay-majority areas.

There are several army camps in Setiawangsa. So observers had expected Umno to retain the constituency in GE13, but many were shocked by the drastically reduced majority it obtained. In the 2008 election, the majority was 8,134, but in 2013, it was 1,390.

As for Titiwangsa, Umno felt it scored a major victory when it wrested the constituency back from PAS. But its majority there was only 866.

Tiiwangsa was an Umno stronghold before PAS’s Lo’ Lo’ Ghazali won it in 2008. Umno worked hard to win it back in 2013, going all out, for example, to solve the settlement issue in Kampung Baru. And it chose as its candidate a well-known corporate figure, Johari Ghani, someone seen as capable of solving the financial woes of the electorate of the constituency, which covers, apart from Kampung Baru, the Chow Kit and Pekeliling areas.

Kamarul said he wouldn’t be shocked if Umno were to lose both constituencies in the coming election.

He said urban voters, including Malays, were highly informed about the 1MDB affair and other current issues that put Umno in a bad light. Furthermore, urbanites were especially badly affected by the rising cost of living, he added.

He said the cost-of-living factor also made it unlikely that PAS would win many votes because the party didn’t have a reputation for resolving economic issues.

“PAS may get slightly more votes than before, but it won’t get enough to win a constituency unless it can show how it can lower the cost of living.”

Kamarul said it would be especially interesting to see whether Umno could hold on to Setiawangsa.

“The result of the last election shows the government can no longer take votes from army camps and the police for granted,” he said. -FMT