BN can win Cameron with 3,000 majority, says Tajuddin

Barisan Nasional can win the Cameron Highlands by-election with a bigger majority than it did in GE14, said Umno supreme council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman.

In expressing his confidence over the matter, Tajuddin cited four main factors, including the advantage of having an Orang Asli candidate.

He said that former top cop Ramli Mohd Nor, as a local, should be able to gather solid support from some 3,000 Orang Asli voters in the constituency.

"And for Malay voters, the BN candidate is a Muslim. So they cannot say that he is a non-Muslim (to decline support). These are the plus points for our candidate.

“Insya allah, we might be able to get at least 3,000 majority this time,” he told reporters during a media meet-and-greet session in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur this evening.

Secondly, comparing support between BN and Pakatan Harapan, Tajuddin hopes PAS supporters would lean towards the opposition candidate.

“We see that this time around there is no three-cornered fight (between major parties. In GE14, PAS got over 3,000 votes.

“So, we hope that their voters would follow PAS leadership's order (to support opposition candidate from BN),” the Pasir Salak MP said.

The third reason, he claimed, was that Harapan had been a disappointment for its supporters.

"There are many Harapan voters who no longer trust Harapan.

"Not all of them, but we have heard grouses from some of them, like a makcik who met (Harapan candidate) M Manogaran and told him that she would never support them anymore unless there is some sort of written agreement," he alleged.

"We cannot say how many percent (of Harapan voters) would swing, but if we can get between 10 and 15 percent, that would be sufficient," he said.

The fourth factor that could contribute to BN’s victory, Tajuddin added, is that Umno has a better organised election machinery than Harapan.

In GE14, BN candidate C Sivarraajh won the Cameron Highlands seat with a slim majority of 597 votes, defeating Manogaran, PAS Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud from PAS, B Suresh Kumar (PSM) and Mohd Tahir Kassim (Berjasa).

On Nov 30, the seat was declared vacant by the Election Court in Kuala Lumpur after it was proven that corrupt practices had led to Sivaraajh's victory. -Mkini