NO EYE SEE! AS PREDICTED, A LANDSLIDE LOSS FOR PAKATAN IN TANJUNG PIAI – BUT INSTEAD OF LEARNING THEIR LESSON, MAHATHIR & HIS BERSATU ULTRAS MAY VEER FURTHER TO THE RIGHT UNLESS REPLACED OR OUSTED

BARISAN Nasional has won the Tanjung Piai by-election with a majority of 15,086 votes, announced the Election Commission.

BN’s Wee Jeck Seng polled 25,466 votes to the 10,380 obtained by PH’s Karmaine Sardini.

Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam won 1,707 votes, while Berjasa’s Badrulhisham Abdul Aziz took 850.

The two independent candidates, Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar, got 380 and 32 votes, respectively.

Wee’s total tonight is about 22% more than the 20,731 votes he received in the 14th general election last year, when he lost the seat to the PH candidate.

His win marks the third time he will represent the Johor federal constituency.

The votes were tallied at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim in Pontian after polling closed at 5.30pm.

BN leaders and supporters gathered at the hall are in a celebratory mood.

The early results showed PH losing at all voting stations.

In the Chinese-majority Pekan Nanas Timur, the ruling pact lost in three streams (two, three and six). Counting is under way for the other four streams.

In GE14, BN lost in the said three streams.

Earlier this evening, BN supporters had begun celebrating even before the final tally, with shouts of “Thank you, Tg Piai” and “Tg Piai is ours” ringing out at the pact’s command centre in Pontian.

BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, MCA president Wee Ka Siong and other coalition leaders were spotted among the flag-waving crowd.

Joining the early celebration were a few officials from PAS, which is backing the BN candidate as part of its cooperation with Umno.

“Our unity pact is working. This is just the start. We are confident it will spread to other areas,” said Kuala Selangor PAS commissioner Muhammad Rashid Muhammad Kassim.

Tg Piai has 52,986 voters, comprising 57% Malays, Chinese (42%) and Indians (1%).

The by-election was called following the death of Dr Md Farid Md Rafik on September 21 due to heart complications. He was 42.

Farid, who was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and an anaesthesiologist by profession, won the seat for PH last year.

He polled 21,255 votes to beat Wee (20,731) and PAS’ Nordin Othman (2,962) with a 524-vote majority. – November 16, 2019.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT