The Malaysian Insight

THE Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituency in Penang is an example of how hard it is for Perikatan Nasional to divide its seats between testy component parties.

Political analysts have argued that how PN divides up Malay-majority seats between component members Umno, Bersatu and PAS will determine whether it will win a general election.

In the 14th general election, the three Malay parties fought for the same seats, which usually contain large rural, Malay populations.

During GE14, Bersatu was part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition while Umno was in Barisan Nasional and PAS headed Gagasan Sejahtera Rakyat.

Bersatu then formed the PH government after the coalition’s historic victory.

In late February, Bersatu left PH, leading to its collapse. It then partnered with Umno, PAS and Sarawak coalition GPS to form PN.

Bersatu, Umno and PAS are three former rivals turned allies and they will likely face off against PH in the next general election.

Tasek Gelugor’s MP Shabudin Yahaya won the seat under BN in GE14.

He defeated Bersatu’s Marzuki Yahya and Rizal Hafiz Ruslan from PAS to clinch an 81-vote majority.

Shabudin polled 18,547 while Marzuki garnered 18,466 votes and Rizal picked up 14,891 votes.

Shabudin then crossed over from Umno to Bersatu when the party was part of the PH in 2018. He then followed Bersatu when it left PH to join Umno in PN.

Now, local Umno chiefs want the Tasek Gelugor seat back from Bersatu because to them, the party has held the seat since 2004.

“We are going to defend Tasek Gelugor and all three of its state seats Permatang Berangan, Sg Dua, dan Teluk Ayer Tawar,” said Tasek Gelugor Umno division chief Mohammad Yusoff Mohd Noor.

“We are not giving them up to anyone. Umno originally won the seat but the MP jumped to Bersatu,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Yusoff has put up his name as the Umno candidate and communicated this to his party’s bosses at the state level.

Division chiefs like Yusoff are critical to victory as he commands the party’s large election machinery of volunteers and workers.

Shabudin, he said, “will just have to find another seat if he wants to contest again”.

When it was part of PH, Bersatu won 13 seats in GE14. After GE14, it gained 15 from Umno defectors.

Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa said the party has made it clear that it wants all these seats back in the next polls.

Its adviser, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, has also said that working with Bersatu in GE15 will be tricky given their acrimonious past and competing seat claims.

Bersatu was formed by former Umno rebels, who include current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in 2016, after they were expelled from the party for criticising then president Najib Razak.

But Bersatu leaders, such as Mohammad Syatibi Abdul Kadir, who heads its Youth wing for Tasek Gelugor, believes that the differences between Umno and Bersatu can be resolved.

“We are still negotiating, there has been no final decision yet. For me, whether the candidate comes from Umno or Bersatu, it does not matter. What matters is that we do our best for the people of Tasek Gelugor.

“Whoever the Perikatan candidate is for Tasek Gelugor, we will support him fully.”

Tasek Gelugor’s voters do not seem to mind where the candidate comes from as long as “he is Malay”.

Firdaus Zulkifli from Telok Ayer Tawar said he had voted for Marzuki in GE14 but in the next election, he is switching his choice.

“I voted for Marzuki because at the time, Bersatu had ex-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But looking at how unstable Pakatan is now I am leaning towards Bersatu or Umno,” said the 26-year-old.

“I don’t really care whether it is Umno or Bersatu, the most important thing is that the candidate is Malay”.

Norbi Mohamad believes that Umno is more popular in Tasek Gelugor compared to Bersatu.

“It will be a shame to see Umno and Bersatu each putting a candidate because then the Malay vote will be split.”

Ammar Shafie from Permatang Berangan believes that PH will have an uphill battle to wrest the seat back from PN.

“This is a rural Malay seat where Malays are scared of the DAP,” he said.

During PH’s 22-month administration, hot-button issues, such as the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools, the death of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim and the restructuring of Tabung Haji were the talk of the area.

“Between Umno and Bersatu, Umno is more popular here.” – July 15, 2020.