Malaysia: Low Chinese, Indian turnout might derail Pakatan in Cameron Highlands

  • LOW Chinese and Indian voter turnout at the Cameron Highlands by-election might derail Pakatan Harapan’s goal of capturing the parliamentary seat, said by-election campaign director Wong Kah Woh.
  • The by-election is the biggest electoral test for PH since the general election as the ruling coalition will contest in a seat won by Barisan Nasional in the 14th general election by 597 votes.
  • BN is fielding Orang Asli former police chief, Rahim Mohd Nor, in the hope of gaining the community’s support. The Orang Asli make up 22% of the voter demographic, while PH’s M. Manogaran from DAP twice contested the seat unsuccessfully and is making his third attempt.
  • Cameron Highlands is one of the most ethnically diverse seats, as no single community represents more than 40% of voters – Malay (33.7%), Chinese (29.5%), Indian (14.9%), Orang Asli (21.9%) and others. There are 32,008 voters in the constituency.
  • By-election campaign director Wong Kah Who said that it is imperative that Chinese and Indians come out in numbers to vote for Pakatan to win.
  • “Our chances are good, as long as the turnout is not less than 70% because we know that those who are coming back from outside (the constituency) mostly will have the tendency to support us,” said Wong.
  • In the seven Malay-majority polling districts, PH only managed to win 9% of the total votes in GE14. Its performance in the nine Orang Asli polling districts was not much better, managing only 10.1% of the votes in these seats.
  • “Particularly from the Malays, the support was far less than we received on average nationwide, where we got around 30% plus of Malay support,” said Wong.
  • Persuading the Malay ground in the Felda settlements is being done through door-to-door campaigning, to which Wong said the “general response” is positive.
  • Better amenities, homes for their growing families and jobs are what the Orang Asli of Kg Tiang in Cameron Highlands want from their new MP come 26 Jan 19.
  • They are not too concerned over the parties as long as they get a good representative to look into their wellbeing.
  • “Usually the village chief (tok batin) will call for a meeting before the elections, then we will decide who we will vote for. “Sometimes we will object to the tok batin’s choice but usually all will follow him,” Wan said at his home in Kg Tiang.
  • “These low-key efforts are where the real work is and not the nightly ceramah which so far appear to have received lukewarm response.” said Wong.

External Link: https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/126185

External Link: https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/126184

16-Jan-2019