The Malaysian Insight

PASIR Salak voters who backed Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the recent general election said they supported the coalition for its freshness as well as its anti-corruption and anti-abuse of power branding.

PN’s promise of a Malay-Muslim government also led voters to pick the coalition.

This sentiment was not only unique to Pasir Salak in Perak as PN managed to win almost 55% of the Malay support nationwide, 29 Barisan Nasional (BN) seats and 17 Pakatan Harapan (PH) seats in the November 19 polls.

The phenomenon was evident in the Pasir Salak parliamentary constituency, which The Malaysian Insight visited recently.

This Malay-majority seat had long been an Umno stronghold but fell to PN in the general election.

A Pasir Salak voter who wanted to be known as Salleh said he supported PN in the polls because the coalition vowed to defend Malays and Islam.

The Chenderong Balai voter, who switched support from BN to PN, said he also bought PN’s anti-power abuse branding.

There had also been a religious pull factor to support PN and its PAS candidate.

He said he believed he would be blessed in life and assured a good afterlife if he voted for PN.

Although BN is still led by Malays and Muslims, its leaders were found to have abused their power and were sentenced to prison terms, like former prime minister Najib Razak, he said.

“We want to see the Islamic and Malay government established. With that, we voted for the ulama group.

“Najib has been convicted, that’s why people are less interested in following BN, that is also a factor, there is no denying that (misuse of power) is also why we reject BN.

“If we don’t trust the leaders, we will definitely change direction. PN is Islamic, we want an Islamic and Malay government, that’s why we support PN,” said the technician.

In fact, PH candidate Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz, the son of a former PAS spiritual leader, could not compete with the PN candidate, who is a local, he said.

“Nik Omar is also a scholar but he is not a local, that’s why we voted for PN,” he said.

Another voter who only wanted to be known as Khairul said he was also drawn to PN’s branding.

He added that he was interested in voting for PN because of Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor who, according to him, dared to fight for the ketum-based agriculture sector.

He said Sanusi, from PAS, was the only leader who dared to speak up on the matter, which could help provide additional income for the villagers.

“Ketum can generate side income, and PN promised to help the agriculture sector by promoting ketum farming, to be exported abroad.

“In Kedah, Perlis, we see everyone supporting PN. That’s why the menteri besar supported (the proposal to allow the export of ketum),” he said.

Ketum is being cultivated in Pasir Salak and its surrounding areas. The plants are clearly visible along the road from Teluk Intan to Pasir Salak. 

“Ketum is also made into tea. That is already an economic generator, just like how we made palm oil as one of the country’s resources in the past.

“That’s why in Kedah, and Perlis they all support PN… because of its support for things like this,” he said.

Sanusi, in the polls campaign, hinted that he would attempt to make ketum a source of national export if PN succeeds in establishing a government.

Local candidate factor

The BN machinery also recognised the advantage of PN’s candidate being a local, having noticed the latter giving religious talks in surau and mosques around Pasir Salak during the campaign period.

A member of the machinery, Kamaruzzaman Kamaruddin said Jamaluddin Yahya, who won the Pasir Salak seat, is a teacher at a school in the constituency and a local PAS Youth leader.

PAS’ Zafarul Azhan Zan, who won the Kampung Gajah state seat, also often gives lectures at the mosques, he said.

“He does not touch on political issues. He teaches religion but the local community is familiar with them,” he said.

PN also won the Sungai Manik state seat with Bersatu’s Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin retaining the seat he won in the 2018 general election.

Additionally, Kamaruzzaman did not rule out Umno’s decision to drop Tajuddin Abdul Rahman as a reason for voters ditching BN.

“Maybe there were voters who were disappointed that Tajuddin was not nominated and they did not vote,” he said.

Support for BN began to wane in the campaign period even with the outspoken Tajuddin’s help, said Kamaruzzaman.

“At that time we thought there would not be any problems, but there were some areas where (the support) was weak. Maybe that was a sign,” he said.

In addition, BN’s loss in Pasir Salak was also due to the coalition’s failure to ensure its voters went out to vote, said Kamaruzzaman.

He said BN lost in areas with more than 1,000 voters but managed to win in smaller areas.

“We won in areas with about 700 to 800 voters, like in Chenderong Kelubi and Paloh Pacat.

“But in larger areas such as Kampung Gajah, Seberang Perak, we lost,” he said, referring to residential areas around Changkat Lada, located within the Felcra scheme.

In the run-up to the general election, BN was reported to have the support of 40,000 voters out of around 74,000 in Pasir Salak, a majority of whom are Malays.

However on polling day, BN candidate Khairul Azwan Harun, who is also the Pasir Salak Umno division deputy chief, who lost to Jamaluddin with a majority of around 5,000 votes.

In the four-cornered contest, Jamaluddin won about 24,800 votes, followed by Khairul with about 19,800 and PH candidate Nik Omar with about 11,600 votes.

Pejuang candidate Zairol Hizam Zakaria only secured 549 votes.

Wave was ‘too big’

Another local Umno supporter who refused to be named said BN’s support seemed to have come only from the older voters.

“We only won the support of older voters. Younger voters didn’t vote for us,” said the man, who was part of BN’s election team.

Although BN was completely defeated in Pasir Salak, PN representatives remained in opposition in parliament and in the state of Perak, which was a relief to Umno supporters like Kamaruzzaman.

“We are relieved as although we lost our seats here, we are still in the ruling pact in both the federal and state levels. Development allocations for these areas here will still go through the BN coordinators in these areas.

“We were defeated because of the PN wave. It’s not that we didn’t do the work. I did the work, I never failed, but it was obvious that the wave was too big,” he said.

Despite only winning 30 parliamentary seats, BN is still part of the coalition government with PH, led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. – January 10, 2023.