Muhyiddin could lose Pagoh in next general election, says Kian Ming

 The ex-Bangi MP says Bersatu's poor showing in Johor following PAS's split from the party suggests that even Muhyiddin Yassin's long-held stronghold is no longer safe.

Ong Kian Ming said support for Bersatu appears to have weakened after PAS ended its political cooperation with the party.

PETALING JAYA:

Former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming believes that Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin could lose his Pagoh parliamentary seat in the next general election following the party’s poor performance in Saturday’s Johor state election.

Ong said Johor had long been regarded as Bersatu’s stronghold, given Muhyiddin’s lengthy political career in the state.

“Muhyiddin has represented the area for a long time as an MP and had also served as menteri besar,” he said on the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast.

Muhyiddin is a nine-term MP for Pagoh, having held the seat from 1978 to 1986, then from 1995 until now. In the 2022 general election, he won the seat with a healthy 10,007-vote majority.

He also served as menteri besar of Johor from 1986 to 1995.

Ong said support for Bersatu appeared to have weakened after PAS ended its political cooperation with the party in early June.

He cited Bukit Kepong as an example, where PN’s Bersatu candidate, Dr Sahruddin Jamal, won only 21.1% of the vote, losing to Barisan Nasional’s Ahmad Syar’e Yusof, who secured victory with 16,386 votes (61.4%) and a 10,761-vote majority.

In Endau, he said, Alwiyah Talib successfully defended the seat despite quitting Bersatu and returning to Umno last month, securing a larger majority – 3,545 votes – compared with her 3,041-vote majority in 2022, when she contested under Bersatu.

The PN candidate from PAS, Hasnul Hakimi Hussein, won 32.4% of the vote, likely representing underlying support for Bersatu, “but in the other constituencies, the highest vote share was only 21% in Maharani, and that was for PAS”.

“This clearly shows that Bersatu’s performance in Johor was quite poor, and I think Muhyiddin could also lose Pagoh if he contests in the next general election,” Ong said.

Yesterday, two Bersatu leaders rejected claims the party was responsible for Perikatan Nasional’s wipeout in the state election.

Sahruddin, the Johor Bersatu chief, said all PN component parties shared responsibility for the coalition’s defeat, while Bersatu associate wing chief R Sri Sanjeevan accused leaders of Parti Wawasan Negara of trying to undermine Bersatu.

Sanjeevan also said Bersatu had been sidelined throughout the Johor election campaign, and called on PN chairman Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar to resign over the coalition’s poor showing.

PN fielded 33 candidates in the Johor polls – 16 from Bersatu, 11 from PAS, five from the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, and one from Pejuang. All were defeated, with 21 of them losing their deposits. - FMT