BOOSTED BY NEW-FOUND POPULARITY AMONG THE ‘MAT REMPITS’ – NAJIB OOZES WITH CONFIDENCE AT CAMERONS: WHILE PAKATAN STILL STRUGGLING AT THE HALFWAY-MARK

ONE aspires to become the first Orang Asli in the country to be elected as a Member of Parliament while another is making his third attempt following his two previous defeats.

This best describes the stiff contest between Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Ramli Mohd Nor and Pakatan Harapan (PH) M. Manogaran as they lock horns with two independent candidates – Salehuddin Ab Talib and farmer Wong Seng Yee – in their quest to secure victory in the Cameron Highlands by-election on Jan 26.

As the by-election campaign passed the halfway mark yesterday (Sunday), top leaders from PH and BN are expected to increase their trips to the hill station in the next few days as they build up the momentum ahead of polling day on Saturday.

While PH and BN hit the ground running after nomination day on Jan 12, both Salehuddin and Wong took a break on Jan 13 and only kicked off their campaign on Jan 14. This has, in turn, raised questions on their seriousness to contest the parliamentary seat, which has 32,008 registered voters.

Political analyst and law lecturer Professor Dr Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood, from the International Islamic University, has described the by-election as a two-horse race between BN and PH with both independent candidates having a slim chance of causing an upset.

He said the by-election is a straight contest between BN and PH and in the final week of the campaign, both candidates will intensify efforts to woo voters and clearly lay out their plans for the constituency.

“Both the BN and PH candidates seem to be focusing on the Orang Asli because matters concerning the community are described as a major issue.

Both the BN and PH candidates seem to be focusing on the Orang Asli because matters concerning the community are described as a major issue. ( NSTP/ABDULLAH YUSOF)

“However, they should not ignore the Malay community as they make up 34 per cent of the voters but since Pas has teamed up with BN, there is a likelihood that a majority of Pas supporters will throw in their lot with BN.

“The candidates must utilise the last seven days of their campaign to sort out issues concerning the Orang Asli. The Indian voters might end up being the trump card in the by-election and not much has been heard on plans to win over the Indian voters,” he told the New Straits Times.

Nik Ahmad said he found it strange that PH was not making any promises during the campaign as voters would usually expect some “good news” and this could be seen as a tactical move that may work in favour of PH.

Meanwhile, Universiti Utara Malaysia political and international studies senior lecturer Md Shukri Shuib said laying out plans to tackle local issues in the next few days will be crucial in determining where the votes will go.

“Both PH and BN candidates represent parties which are ruling the federal government and state government respectively, so they should be able to look into the issues from a bigger perspective and provide solutions rather than merely acknowledging the existence of such problems.

“On the issue of flash floods, for example, the candidates must micromanage the problem so that voters feel confident with a certain candidate.

“The first week of campaigning saw candidates weaving through narrow roads to meet Orang Asli voters and the final week will see the presence of several top leaders which will certainly spice up the campaign.

“At the moment, the campaign is quite balanced and both sides have an equal chance… the final lap of the campaign ahead of polling day will be crucial,” he said.

A Pas party insider said the 3,000-odd votes the party gained in the 14th General Election will certainly go to Ramli, while BN is also set to receive a higher percentage of Orang Asli votes in the by-election.

“The Orang Asli are upset by the remarks made by PH leaders and damage control efforts over the past one week including bringing PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to meet the Orang Asli did not help pacify them,” he said. – NST

At mid-point, fight rages on for extra 100 votes here, there

DESPITE sharing the prime minister’s name, Mahathir will not be voting for Pakatan Harapan in the Cameron Highlands by-election.

“I want the old government back. It was very good to the Orang Asli. The new government has not done anything for us,” said the 65-year-old, whose full name is Mahathir Yoktegos (pic, below).

He is one out of 1,095 voters in the Semai settlement of Pos Sinderut. Orang Asli communities like his have seen some of the fiercest campaigning in the by-election, which reached its mid-point yesterday.

In a seat that was won by fewer than 600 votes in the 14th general election, an extra 1,000 votes can make a huge difference for either coalition.

With five days to go before voting, both PH and Barisan Nasional are trying their best to win over the likes of Mahathir for that extra 100 to tilt the by-election in their favour.

According to PH and BN activists, there are a few reasons the Semai are the most intensely courted compared with Malays, Chinese and Indians.

PH activist Muhammad Azmi Abdullah said BN has locked up the biggest bloc of voters – the Malay-Muslims who make up 33.7% of all voters and who are concentrated in Jelai.

“Jelai has always been a BN fortress. The Jelai state constituency is also the seat of the Pahang Menteri Besar and BN chairman Wan Rosdy (Wan Ismail),”   said Azmi, who is Cameron Highlands Bersatu secretary.

PH, meanwhile, is optimistic of maintaining its support among Chinese and Indian voters, who comprise 29.5% and 14.9%, and who are mostly in the Tanah Rata state constituency, where the vegetable farms and tourist areas are located. Tanah Rata was won by PH’s Chiong Yoke Kong in GE14 by 3,589 votes.

Since almost all the Orang Asli reside in their kampung and have few outstation voters unlike the other communities, it is comparatively easier to canvas for their support.

The importance of the Semai vote was seen in how BN decided to field its first ever Orang Asli parliamentary candidate Ramli Mohd Nor, despite the fact that since the seat was created in 2004, it has always been given to MIC, the coalition’s Indian party.

Activists from Impian Sarawak, who are experts at working with indigenous tribal people, have been camped out in the villages since the Election Court declared the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat vacant.

There is also a contingent of Kelantan DAP, many of whose members are Orang Asli activists from Gua Musang.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and prime-minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim have made several visits to the settlements, while PH component Bersatu has set up a branch in Pos Betau, which has 1,129 voters.

Shifting fortunes

In GR14, BN retained Cameron Highlands by a mere 597 votes. It had the biggest support among the Malay-Muslims and Orang Asli, according to DAP assistant national director for political education Ong Kian Ming.

In contrast, PH won 76.9% of all votes in polling districts where Chinese voters are the majority. In Indian-majority polling districts, PH won 61.4% of all votes. In this by-election, PH local leaders, such as Chiong, are confident that it can maintain the same level of support from these communities in Tanah Rata.

In the Malay-majority polling districts, BN won 46.9% of all votes in GE14, according to Ong’s data. PAS, which cornered 41.9% of all votes in these districts, has pledged to get its members to vote for BN.

In a seat that was won by fewer than 600 votes in GE14, an extra 1,000 votes can make a huge difference, admitted Bersatu’s Azmi (pic, left).

“The most, I believe we can do, is win 10% of all votes in the Malay-Muslim districts,” said Azmi, a former teacher in Felda settlements of Sg Koyan.

The Umno-PAS tie up will see BN increasing its share of votes in places such as the Kg Keledek voting district, which has a total of 929 votes. In GE14, PAS won 59.8% of the area’s votes while BN took 33.9%, according to data from Ong.

“For the first time in the history of Kg Keledek, the BN will probably win it, thanks to support from PAS,” said a Pahang BN grassroots leader in charge of the campaign there.

But in the constituency’s nine Orang Asli settlements, which collectively provide 4,749 votes, the war for the hearts and minds seems to shift daily.

Tanah Rata assemblyman Chiong Yoke Kong won the seat with solid Chinese and Indian support. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Hasnoor Hussain, January 21, 2019.

BN’s Fadzil Mohamad Kamal said the coalition is confident it can maintain its support level of 64.7% for Pos Sinderut but admitted that the fight is getting fiercer.

Fadzil said just before a scheduled visit by former prime minister Najib Razak on January 19, PH took all but three of Pos Sinderut’s tok batin (village chiefs) to Tanah Rata for a meeting.

“PH has been going into the remote villages aggressively. The Semai are asking why they are suddenly doing all this,”   said Fadzil, who is Raub Umno Youth chief and a top leader in BN’s campaign in Pos Sinderut.

In Pos Betau, PH’s Azmi said for the first time, the coalition could increase its share of support.

“We don’t hope to win a majority in all the Malay and Orang Asli polling districts. We know that’s not possible as BN is strong here. We just hope to get an extra 700 to 1,000 votes to help push up the overall votes in Cameron Highlands.” – https://www.themalaysianinsight.com

NST / THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT