PKR: Malay votes in Sembrong shifting our way

GE14 | Despite being trounced in the ring five years ago, PKR believes it will be able to put up a better fight in Sembrong against heavyweight Hishammuddin Hussein this time around due to what it claimed to be a swing of Malay votes in its favour.

PKR Sembrong coordinator Onn Abu Bakar claimed that sentiments on the ground have been shifting against incumbent MP Hishammuddin and Umno-BN.

This, he claimed, is largely due to the fact that many constituents have been left “disappointed and dissatisfied” with the long-term MP and caretaker federal minister’s performance, particularly in improving the public housing situation.

“All promises made by him in the GE13 to improve public housing in Sembrong have been disappointing (in its execution), and there are projects that have been abandoned, projects as far back as 2001 and 2002,” Onn said when speaking to reporters at the Invoke Space in Kuala Lumpur.

Onn added that Malay voters, the largest voter group in Sembrong, were more receptive to the opposition than ever before.

“There are six Felda settlements in Sembrong, and five years ago it was hard to go into these places (to approach voters). Now, it is easy for us to go in.

“I believe that Malay voters are now more willing to accept the opposition, especially when their incomes remain small but the cost of living is high and there is the GST,” he said.

Should he be fielded there, Onn said his planned to offer voters more job opportunities and better allocation for public housing.

Sembrong is largely seen as a BN safe seat, with Hishammuddin holding on to it for the five terms, from when the seat was still known as Tenggara in the 1990s.

In 2013, the Umno man garnered more than 65 percent of the votes, albeit with a smaller majority than in previous elections.

Invoke, a thinktank founded by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, previously listed Sembrong as one of its targeted winnable seats in next month’s polls.

However, not going down without a fight, BN responded with an announcement by caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak on the construction of 1,000 public housing units, 500 homes for second-generation Felda settlers, and the upgrading of a local police kiosk into a police station. - FMT