The Malaysian Insight

THE six “winnable” seats in Johor that MCA believes it can capture in the state’s March 12 elections are Pulai Sebatang, Pekan Nanas, Parit Yaani, Yong Peng, Paloh and Pemanis, party sources said.

The party, which was annihilated in Johor at the 14th general election is said to be contesting in a total of 15 seats and has high hopes for these which have traditionally been MCA seats.

MCA’s confidence in the six is boosted following the Malacca elections where it won two out of seven seats it contested, the sources said.

MCA is also hopeful in Jementah and Johor Jaya, both of which it lost to DAP in the 2013 general election.

With about one week left until nomination on February 26 when candidate nominations must be filed, Barisan Nasional (BN) is still negotiating seat allocations.

While MCA is said to be vying for 15 seats, MIC is believed to be interested in defending Kahang and Tenggaroh, where its candidates are the incumbent.

MCA sources said the party stands a good chance in the coming polls despite losing all but one parliamentary seat in 2018, as it had never stopped serving voters.

Most of the constituencies it will be contesting in are also ethnically mixed seats where the local political landscape has not changed drastically, they added.

And of the six seats it deems winnable, MCA has lost half of them for only one term, adding to its confidence that these seats can be recaptured.

The six seats in 2018:

Pulai Sebatang
This was a MCA seat until it was lost in the 2018 general election. MCA’s Tan Eng Meng was floored by PKR’s Taqiuddin Cheman (from Amanah, using the PKR logo) who won with a majority of 3,395.

Tan secured 11,112 votes while Taqiuddin obtained 14,507 votes.

Pekan Nanas
PKR’s Yeo Tung Siong won with 11,856 votes over MCA’s Tan Eng Man who had 10,548 votes.

MCA held Pekan Nanas until the 2013 general election, when it lost the seat to DAP.

Parit Yaani
MCA was in a three-cornered fight with PKR and PAS here. PKR’s  Aminolhuda Hassan (from Amanah but using the PKR logo) won with 12,309 votes over MCA’s Soh Lip Yan’s 7,475.

The PAS candidate received only 2,943 votes.

This has also been a traditional MCA seat until it lost to PAS in 2013.

Yong Peng
Here also saw PKR, MCA and PAS vying for the seat. PKR’s Chew Peck Choo (from DAP using PKR’s logo) won with 12,307 votes compared to MCA’s Ling Tian Soon with 7,218 votes and PAS’ Muhammad bin Abdullah who lost his deposit.

MCA and DAP have traditionally faced off in Yong Peng, and MCA held the seat for two terms following the 2004 and 2008 general elections. It lost the seat to DAP in 2013.

Paloh
PKR’s Sheikh Omar Ali (from DAP) won 8,958 votes and had a slim majority of 783 votes over MCA’s Teoh Yap Kun who managed 8,175 votes.

Independent candidate Shamugam Munisamy only secured 61 votes and lost his deposit.

Prior to 2018, MCA had held the Paloh seat for three terms.

Pemanis
This is a BN seat through Gerakan which lost it to PKR for the first time in 2018. It was a three-cornered fight with PAS also in the fray.

PKR’s Chong Fat Full secured 8,304 votes over Gerakan’s Koo Shiaw Lee’s 7,941, giving Pakatan Harapan a slim majority of 363 votes. The PAS candidate got 2,151 votes.

New faces for the youth vote

Party sources said MCA will be unveiling new faces for the state election, much like BN in Malacca which had 80% new candidates.

For Johor, MCA president Wee Ka Siong has said there will be new faces along with the old.

Party sources said this strategy is being employed to challenge the new, youth-based party Muda, as well as to mitigate the uncertainty posed by new 18- to 21-year-old voters and those automatically registered as voters.

The campaign in the state will also be youth-centric, with a focus on employment, quality of life and education, sources said.

Aware that Muda is attracting younger voters, MCA sources said the party was still confident as Muda “is still very new”.

“Voters are not familiar with them. Having said that, we must not underestimate them.

“With the automatic voter registration kicking in, there are 780,000 new voters added to the electoral roll for Johor.

“BN will not take this lightly. We can only gain support if we listen to the voters,” they said. – February 18, 2022.