The Malaysian Insight

LIM Guan Eng  has congratulated Najib Razak for leading a successful campaign in the Cameron Higland’s by-election with PAS, a former Umno rival that has become the lynchpin BN party’s important ally.

“It shows that Najib is the real opposition leader, and PAS has succeeded in drawing support from MCA and MIC,” the DAP secretary general said in a press conference in Seberang Jaya today.

Lim said MCA and MIC leaders should be asked what they thought of this pact with the Islamist party, whose hudud agenda was strongly opposed by the Chinese and Indian component parties in the past.

MCA and MIC are now severely weakened in the BN opposition coalition, with each having just one MP, compared to Umno’s 38. PAS has 18 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat.

Najib, who was formerly Umno president and BN chairman, was at the forefront of the BN campaign in Cameron Highlands, outshining Mohamad Hasan and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who are the current leaders of Umno. 

Mohamad is the acting head of Umno and BN after Zahid announced last month that he was taking leave following a series of graft charges. Najib had stepped down after the 14^th general election, in which he led BN to its first electoral defeat.

That election saw BN initially take Cameron Highlands through MIC’s C. Sivarraajh. But an election court nullified that result after it found evidence of vote-buying by BN and barred Sivarraajh from contesting in an election for five years.

Yesterday’s by-election saw BN’s Ramli Mohd Nor becoming the new Cameron Highlands MP after getting 12,038 votes. He defeated PH’s M. Manogaran, who received 8,800 votes, and independents Sallehudin Ab Talib (314) and Wong Seng Yee (276). The turnout was 68%.

Ramli’s 3,238-vote majority is a huge increase from the 597-vote majority claimed by Sivarraajh.

During the BN campaign, PAS and its president, Abdul Hadi Awang, also campaigned to help secure Malay and Muslim votes for BN.

Today, Najib on Facebook said PAS’ support for BN in Cameron Highlands paved the way for closer cooperation between the two “for the sake of Malaysia’s future”.

Despite the loss in Cameron Highlands, Lim, who is also Pakatan Harapan deputy president, said the ruling coalition had improved in terms of popular votes.

“We saw an increase in popular votes, from 38% to 41%. This is also despite the lower turnout where we are strong, like Tanah Rata. 

“Many outstation voters didn’t go home because they had already planned to return closer to Chinese New Year.”

The festive celebration is just more than a week away.

In GE14, Sivaraajh won 10,307 votes, Manogaran won 9,710, PAS’ Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud won 3,587 votes, B. Suresh Kumar of Parti Sosialis Malaysia won 680 votes and BERJASA’s Mohd Tahir Kassim won 81 votes. The turnout then was 79%.

Lim also said PH saw a slight increase in Malay support, although the number might be insignificant.

“These are signs that we can get more support in future if we work harder. This is why we have to improve to address our weaknesses.

“I know our supporters are disappointed, but we should all take heart and learn from the campaign.”

Lim also offered that a victory would truly count if a party won in a seat controlled by its rival. 

“This was a BN seat. BN has taken it back. Look at the previous by-elections. PH took back four of our own seats,” he said, referring to Balakong, Sungai Kandis, Seri Setia, and Port Dickson. 

“It will only count if you can win in your rival’s area. We will now see what we can achieve in Semenyih and Rantau.”

The Semenyih by-election in March is called following the death of its PH assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor died of a heart attack earlier this month. 

Last November, the election court declared the GE14 result for the Rantau state seat, which was won unopposed by Mohamad, the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar, invalid. 

Mohamad won the seat after his only challenger PKR candidate Dr S. Streram was barred from entering the nomination centre on April 28 last year for not having a pass issued by the Election Commission.  

Mohamad is appealing the election court’s decision. – January 27, 2019.