KUALA LUMPUR: Former Cabinet Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (pic) has expressed confidence that Chinese support will return to Barisan Nasional in the impending Tanjung Piai by-election.
He said this is because many Chinese business owners are disgruntled with the present Pakatan Harapan administration due to the bad state of the economy.
“The support of the Chinese community for Barisan will increase now because business owners have claimed that business hasn’t been good under the Pakatan leadership, ” said Ahmad.
However, when asked if a candidate from MCA will be fielded in the Nov 16 polls, Ahmad said that would depend on the Barisan leadership.
In GE14, Bersatu’s Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik defeated MCA’s incumbent two-term MP Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng by a mere 524 votes.
The Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat is traditionally contested by MCA.
On Monday (Oct 28), Pakatan announced that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s 66-year-old Karmaine Sardini is to be its candidate in the Tanjung Piai polls.
During GE14, Karmaine contested the Pontian parliamentary constituency and lost to Ahmad by more than 800 votes.
On his GE14 victory, Ahmad said he won by a slim majority due to the lack of Chinese support towards Barisan and the 2018 redelineation exercise.
“I received two polling district centres from Tanjung Piai (due to the redelineation exercise) and 5,000 Chinese voters did not side with me," said Ahmad.
He added that 2,500 Malay voters from his area were moved to Tanjung Piai as a result of the redelineation exercise, adding that he lost approximately 12,000 votes due to the exercise.
"Those who were in Pontian know about it. This catastrophe is the result of the redelineation," said Ahmad.
Ahmad also said that Barisan is confident about the fight against Pakatan in the Tanjung Piai by-election.
“Barisan enters a by-election if we think we can win. Just like Sandakan, we did not participate in it because it was a different situation there, ” he added.
The Election Commission has fixed Nov 16 as polling day for the Tanjung Piai by-election, which was called following the death of incumbent MP, Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, on Sept 21.
Barisan has yet to announce its candidate for the Nov 16 polls.- Star
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