JOHOR UMNO SHAKES, MB KHALED’S BASTION HIT: THOUSANDS OF MOSTLY LOCAL MALAYS COME OUT TO CHEER ON MAHATHIR & PAKATAN

A field of green turned into a sea of people waving PKR flags in Pasir Gudang, Johor last night.

The home base of Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin had been apparently struck by the Pakatan Harapan “Malay tsunami” and was the launching pad for the coalition’s move to use PKR’s “eye” symbol as its common logo.

Some 4,000 people had turned up for the ceramah, with a majority in the crowd made up of Malays.

While 4,000 is less than half of the 15,000-strong crowd Harapan claimed it had for its ceramah in Kedah last week, it is still an impressive turnout given the location.

Pasir Gudang, and Johor in general, is an Umno stronghold.

But with the birth of splinter-group Bersatu threatening Umno’s support base, the ruling party may be in for a tough fight.

BN’s majority in Pasir Gudang has already been on a steady decline since 2004.

In that year, Khaled won the parliament seat with a 31,121-vote majority. In 2008, the majority was slashed to 17,281 votes.

The situation worsened further in 2013 when Khaled was moved from federal to state and was slated to be BN’s menteri besar candidate for Johor.

He contested the Permas state seat and his replacement in Pasir Gudang, Normala Abdul Sama, barely held on to the seat with a slim 935-vote majority.

Khaled, however, won Permas by a comfortable margin of 5,752 votes, and become the state’s new menteri besar.

Harapan’s manifesto for Johor

While a strong Malay presence at last night’s ‘Jelajah Harapan’ crowd may signify stronger support from the majority community for the opposition, observers are quick to caution that rally turnouts do not necessarily translate into votes.

Meanwhile, besides announcing that Harapan parties will be using PKR logo for the upcoming elections, the coalition also launched its manifesto for Johor.

The manifesto is divided into two categories – promises to be fulfilled in 100 days and a longer five-year programme.

In the short term, Harapan has vowed to impose a two-term limit on the post of menteri besar, free 10 cubic meters of water for the B40 group, and a RM500 yearly medical aid for the B40 group, among others.

In the long term, the coalition seeks to introduce scholarships, create a state university, and generate 200,000 jobs.

MKINI