PETALING JAYA: A senior leader from Perikatan Nasional (PN) says the coalition will have a hard time winning over the non-Malay voters in Sungai Bakap, complicating its odds of maintaining PAS’s hold on the state constituency in the July 6 by-election.
The non-Malay leader who asked to remain anonymous said the majority of non-Malay voters in the area support Pakatan Harapan (PH).
He also said that PN’s support among the Malays in the constituency had plateaued.
“Our chances there are quite slim. I’m not saying that PH is all that strong, but (PN) has weakened.
“We are unable to attract the 40% of non-Malay voters in the area, and our Malay support has plateaued.”
Speaking to FMT, he said the strength of PH and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) grassroots machinery, primarily due to Penang Umno, had also chipped away at PN’s Malay support.
“The PH and BN machinery in the constituency is strong. The MP for the area is also a PKR minister,” he said, referring to Nibong Tebal MP and education minister Fadhlina Sidek.
“In PN, we can only rely on the strength of PAS’s machinery. PN’s non-Malay components such as Gerakan do not have a strong party machinery, and the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, which just joined us, is inexperienced.”
The state seat of Sungai Bakap was vacated following the death of its assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff from PAS on May 24.
Sungai Bakap is a mixed seat with a 59.4% Malay electorate. Chinese comprise 22.5%, Indians 17.4% and others 0.7%.
Zamri won the seat in the state election last August, defeating PH candidate Nurhidayah Che Rose with a majority of 1,563 votes.
PN will field Nibong Tebal PAS vice-chief Abidin Ismail in the by-election, while PH has named former teacher Joohari Ariffin from PKR as its candidate.
The Election Commission has set this Saturday as nomination day. Early voting will be on July 2 and voting day on July 6. - FMT
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