BN loses the Felda vote in wave of rejection

 

Felda settlements in Pahang, long considered to be a Barisan Nasional stronghold, turned against the coalition in Saturday’s general election. (Bernama pic)

KUANTAN: Pahang’s hung state assembly was a result of a wave of Malay voters dumping Barisan Nasional in the general election on Saturday, after years of loyalty to the coalition, according to an analyst.

The election results showed that the scores of Felda settlements spread wide across the state could no longer be considered as BN ‘safe deposits’.

BN lost the Felda vote in 12 out of 14 parliamentary seats in the state and won only 16 seats in the 42-member state assembly, down from 25 in 2018. The results placed BN one seat behind Perikatan Nasional, while Pakatan Harapan secured eight seats.

One seat remains vacant. The contest in Tioman was postponed to Dec 7 after PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli, 61, died on polling day from a suspected heart attack.

On Saturday, BN lost eight seats – Bukit Ibam, Kuala Sentul, Pulau Tawar, Pulau Manis, Lanchang, Kuala Semantan, Lepar and Sungai Lembing – all of which went to PN, the coalition formed by Bersatu, PAS and minor parties.

Izani Zain, a research fellow at Universiti Malaya, said PN’s efforts to take care of settlers’ welfare in the short period when PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister could have been a factor in the swing towards PN.

Muhyiddin had abolished a portion of Felda settlers’ loans amounting to RM8.3 billion, to buy back 82% of Felda Global Venture shares, as well as approving the issuance of government-guaranteed sukuk worth RM9.9 billion to improve Felda’s business model.

“The settlers still remember what Muhyiddin did but more important was how he championed PN as a clean and issue-free coalition that upheld integrity,” said Izani.

“This made voters view PN as a safer alternative to BN, in continuing to look after Malay and Islamic interests compared to PH,” he said.

Izani said the real clashes in Pahang were those between BN and PN, and not PH, 16 of whose candidates lost their deposits.

Izani said Pahang BN had also borne the effects of the coalition’s problems at the central level, such as party leaders being embroiled in various controversies that resulted in a swing of votes.

“The selection of candidates could also have led to BN’s failure to form the state government. They overestimated the strength of the candidates featured, whereas those capable of winning are usually the old timers who are experienced and have their own followers,” he said.

He cited the case of Ismail Abd Muttalib, a veteran MP of Maran, who joined PAS after being dropped by BN and pulled off a shock victory over Shahaniza Shamsuddin with a majority of 1,821 votes.

Another political analyst, Ainul Adzellie Hasnul, said BN had to start a process of cleansing at state and central levels if it aims to regain the people’s trust.

The best platform would be the party elections that must be held within six months. He said Umno should use the elections to change leaders who had become a liability and showcase younger leaders.

“Give them a chance to lead and don’t place them in a precarious situation such as the general election, where many new faces were placed in gray or black areas,” he said.

He said the wave of Malay voters rejecting BN had happened quietly from north to south and eastwards to Pahang. Throughout the campaign, BN appeared to be the choice in Pahang but the voters knew who they wanted, and this was shown in the results. - FMT