The Malaysian Insight

UMNO Youth head Asyraf Wajdi Dasuki has paid tribute to Ramli Mohd Nor’s Orang Asli heritage, former party president Najib Razak and PAS for sealing Barisan Nasional’s victory in Cameron Highlands tonight.

He said Ramli’s Semai heritage and local boy status made him the favourite to win the parliamentary seat.

Ramli, a retired cop, won 12,038 votes, beating PH’s M. Manogaran, who won 8,800 votes. Independents Wong Seng Yee and Sallehudin Ab Talib only managed 276 and 314 votes, respectively.

“The Orang Asli sentiment is with BN. They still love BN and feel indebted to the previous leadership.

“We can see this when the community came all out to meet Najib when he visited their area to campaign,” he said in a statement.

Asyraf said the popularity of the former prime minister and Pekan MP among the Orang Asli and Felda communities also contributed towards the BN victory.

“They remember what he did for them,” he said.

Asyraf also said the “undivided support and hard work by the PAS leadership and machinery” also delivered victory to BN.

He said PAS delivered the support of more than 2,000 hardcore PAS supporters, especially in the Kg Keledek, Bukit Kota and Sg Koyan 3 polling districts.

BN has never won in Kg Keledek.

“The people, namely the Malays and Bumiputera, want to see strong cooperation between Umno and PAS, as a sign of unity among the ummah and stability in the country.”

Asyraf also lauded the BN machinery, including the BN wings, for their tireless and solid good work at all polling districts in Cameron Highlands over the last two weeks.

“For the first time, Wanita Umno and PAS’ women wing Muslimah joined forces to meet voters from house to house, especially in Jelai.

“Umno Youth members also camped next to the river at the Orang Asli villages to make sure their programmes ran smoothly.”

Asyraf said PH failed to beat BN as the people were unhappy with the rising cost of living and ruling coalition’s unfulfilled general election pledges.

“Felda settlers, especially, feel the impact of the rising cost of living due to the drop in rubber and palm oil prices. They don’t see the PH government doing anything effective to raise the commodities’ prices.

“They also feel cheated by all the unfulfilled promises from the PH election manifesto,” he said.

Asyraf said the win in Cameron Highlands could lift spirits for BN to rise up again.

BN and its lynchpin party Umno has been struggling since they lost Putrajaya in GE14. It has lost all its component parties in Sarawak and Sabah, and Gerakan, leaving only Umno, MCA and MIC.

Umno, which now has 38 MPs, also lost a number of MPs who have since turned independent or joined PH and PH-friendly parties. – January 26, 2019.