Malaysia: Shafie’s schedule hints at Warisan’s interest in DAP, Bersatu seats

• Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal’s schedule gives a glimpse of which seats the Sabah-based party is eyeing to make its electoral debut in the Johor polls.
• Shafie is expected to start his day in Permas, a seat held by Bersatu’s Che Zakaria Mohd Salleh, before proceeding to neighbouring Johor Jaya, where the incumbent is DAP’s Liow Cai Tung.
• In the evening, Shafie is expected to proceed north to Bekok, a seat won by DAP’s S Ramakrishnan in the 2018 general election.
• Permas in southern Johor is a state seat within the parliamentary constituency of Pasir Gudang, where there is a large East Malaysian population including its very own Pasar Borneo and Pasar Tamu Sabah. Many work at the Pasir Gudang port.
• BN has always won Permas until the last general election when Bersatu wrested the seat while it was part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Bersatu has since quit the coalition. Amanah is expected to represent Harapan in the seat for the forthcoming Johor polls.
• Permas is a Malay-majority seat but with a sizeable non-Malay population. Shafie is expected to have breakfast there and meet with the local Sabah community before proceeding to Johor Jaya in the afternoon where he will visit a Chinese temple and some businesses. Johor Jaya is a mixed seat with a slight Chinese majority.
• In the evening, he is expected to travel to the Chinese-majority seat of Bekok in northern Johor. It is also the seat with the largest Indian population in the state, at around 18%.
• Shafie is expected to meet the local Indian and Malay communities there. Unlike suburban and urban Permas and Johor Jaya, Bekok is a largely rural seat.
• He is also scheduled to launch an election operations centre there, a signal that Warisan will contest the seat. However, there is no indication that Warisan will be launching an operations centre in Permas or Johor Jaya yet.

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