Sg Bakap defeat: You can field Ong or KJ but results will be the same - Rafizi

 

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has hit out at critics who blamed him and the recent diesel subsidy rationalisation over Pakatan Harapan losing in Sungai Bakap.

He pointed out that the by-election results showed that Perikatan Nasional and Harapan had maintained the same rate of vote shares in Sungai Bakap as during last year's Penang state election when Putrajaya had yet to cut diesel subsidies.

The only difference this time, according to Rafizi, was that PN enjoyed a wider majority gap because there was a much lower turnout among non-Malay voters.

Based on the polling data, it signified that the country is in a polarisation deadlock that no matter what the parties do, it would not change the pattern of votes among the Malay and non-Malay voters, he added.

“It shows how polarised everything is... you can put either Ong Kian Ming, or KJ (Khairy Jamaluddin) as a candidate there, but I don't think it is going to achieve anything.

“If anything, that worries me, it is how deadlocked the polarisation is,” Rafizi told a press conference this afternoon.

Rafizi was asked to comment on the Sungai Bakap by-election results which saw PN successfully retained the Penang state seat with a wider majority of 4,267.

Government critics had blamed national issues such as the recent diesel subsidies rationalisation as among the main factors behind Harapan-BN's loss in the polls.

Ong, who is from DAP, had also blamed Rafizi’s use of derogatory remarks when campaigning for Harapan candidate Joohari Ariffin.

On top of this, Ong and Khairy, a former Umno leader, had also discussed Rafizi's alleged “very harsh” attitude in the latest episode of “Keluar Sekejap” podcast where they analysed the by-election outcome.

In response, Rafizi panned the duo for not saying anything when Harapan did better than expected during the 2022 general election.

“When I was leading the election campaign for PKR from successive losses in Malacca and Johor state elections, and then in the 15th general election when we did a lot better than what was expected, there were no such comments from KJ or Ong,” he said.

Diesel issue

In reaction to the diesel issue, the economy minister said there was no conclusive data to show that the fuel subsidies rationalisation had impacted votes.

“Looking at the level of support among Malay voters, if (national) issues like diesel had a big impact on votes (in Sungai Bakap), you would have expected PN to increase their share of votes.

“But it didn't. It remained the same, about 22 percent (Harapan) versus 78 percent (PN).

“It has remained the same as last year, which was before diesel (subsidies rationalisation).

“I think we have to look at everything in totality,” he said.

Adding further, Rafizi said the turnout rate among non-Malay voters was as low as 45 percent at some voting stations while the Malays were as high as 80 percent.

He pointed out that historically, the turnout rate among non-Malay voters had been lower during by-elections and state elections compared to general polls.

However, PKR will try to find out what caused many non-Malay voters in Sungai Bakap to sit out.

“I think it’s too early for us to conclude anything because the parameters aren’t quite clear.

“First, there has been no swing of support towards any side. We are exactly as we were almost a year ago.

“Secondly, the real issue here is the turnout. Do we have enough information that the non-Malays didn’t turn out because of diesel?

“I think we need to go back and find out more,” he said. - Mkini