Bersatu a 'gamechanger' in Umno strongholds, Saifuddin says

GE14 | Having the Umno splinter party Bersatu on board with Pakatan Harapan’s campaigning is a “gamechanger” compared to the previous election, said PKR Kulim-Bandar Baharu candidate Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

With the help of its party machinery and Kulim-Bandar Baharu division chief Azimi Daim, he said Harapan now has operations centres in polling districts where he had lost badly in the last election, and that he is now able to penetrate Umno strongholds that he could not via door-to-door campaigning before.

“(On Sunday) when both of us did a walkabout, I can see his party machinery's impact in terms of numbers and they are locals. It has really helped me to penetrate the Umno strongholds like Terap where I lost badly the last time.

“So, I really ride on their party machinery. It is a gamechanger to have Bersatu with us, especially in Kulim-Bandar Baharu,” told Malaysiakini on Monday.

In the 2013 polls, voters in the polling district casted 314 votes for Saifuddin versus 1,018 votes for his Umno rival Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir.

“This election, PKR and Pakatan Harapan together with Bersatu has been able to set up an operations centre that is being run by youths.

“Before, I couldn’t come in at all. For this, I credit Bersatu for being able the expand its influence here. The combination of PKR and Bersatu is what enabled us to penetrate Terap,” he said.

Aziz won the Kulim-Bandar Baharu seat by a 1,871-vote majority in GE13, and is now defending his seat against Saifuddin and PAS’ Raman Abul Razak.

Kulim-Bandar Baharu comprises the more urbanised Kulim and the Bandar Baharu state constituencies.

Sixty-two percent of voters in Kulim and 79 percent in Bandar Baharu are Malay.

‘They used to shut the door on me’

According to Saifuddin, Malay voters are more welcoming of him now compared to the last election.

Voters in Umno strongholds, he said, used to shut the door on him, and now come to him with their grouses.

Apart from Bersatu’s machinery, Saifuddin said the party’s influence in the area is down to Azimi himself, who Bandar Baharu voters recognise as their former assemblyperson and Kedah exco from 2004 until 2008.

They also recall the school and other facilities that he helped devlier to the constituency, he added.

The fact he and Azimi were party colleagues in Umno Youth prior to the Reformasi movement also helped, Saifuddin noted, as the duo were able to work smoothly together.

Harapan is hoping to engineer a ‘Malay tsunami’ to secure its victory in the election, with Bersatu leading the charge into rural Malay constituencies that have traditionally voted for Umno.

Previously, Kulim-Bandar Baharu incumbent Aziz had told Malaysiakini that he is wary of Bersatu sympathisers, whom he believes will make retaining the seat a challenge despite the opposition vote being split between PKR and PAS.

He said there are many such sympathisers, although just a handful of Umno grassroots leaders had formally defected to Bersatu.

“There are a lot of sympathisers out there, so I don't want to take it lightly.

“So we have engaged them, we have spoken to them, we have explained the situation where one man does not change anything, but a concerted action under a strong party is what makes the difference,” he had said. - Mkini