Barisan chose right candidate for by-election

Winning hearts: Ramli (right) mingling with a resident in Pos Terisu, Cameron Highlands, as part of his campaign. — Bernama

BARISAN Nasional’s decision to field an orang asli and Muslim direct candidate paid off when it won the Cameron Highlands by-election.

Barisan fielded Ramli Mohd Nor, a Semai who was born and bred in the constituency. The former police officer is not a member of any political party.

“The main reason BN won is the candidate,” said Universiti Utara Malaysia political lecturer Prof Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani.

“He managed to attract the two big races – orang asli and Malays – in the parliamentary seat.”

Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki agreed, saying it was a plus point for Barisan to have an orang asli candidate.

“From day one of campaigning, we told the orang asli voters that they would be voting the first voice from the community into Parliament. The community, which already strongly supports BN, was sold on the idea,” he said.

In the four-cornered fight, Ramli defeated Pakatan Harapan’s M. Manogaran of DAP and two independent candidates, Wong Seng Yee and Sallehudin Ab Talib.

There are 32,009 voters. The racial breakdown is 33% Malays, 30% Chinese, 22% orang asli and 15% Indians, while the rest are others. Jelai and Tanah Rata are the two state seats in Cameron Highlands.

Yesterday, the roads in Cameron Highlands – in the words of The Star journalist Joseph Kaos – were “amazingly clear”.

It gave an indication that Pakatan Harapan might lose.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang had said that Manogaran, who was contesting for the third time in Cameron Highlands, could win if outside voters returned home to cast their ballot.

The other factor for Pakatan’s big loss, according to Azizuddin, was outside voters – who are mostly Chinese and Indians – who did not return home to vote.

Outsiders, he added, were usually Pakatan voters.

Penang Institute political scientist Dr Wong Chin Huat said the preliminary results showed that Ramli had successfully garnered support from the vast majority of Umno and PAS supporters, especially in Jelai.

Manogaran’s fortune, he said, was damaged by the significantly lower turnout in Tanah Rata.

Asyraf said one of the most important factors behind Barisan’s victory was the cooperation between Umno and PAS.

“We were not really optimistic when it came to the Chinese and Indian voters. We only won the seat by 597 majority in GE14.

“With the PAS and Umno machinery working together, we managed to get the more than 3,000 PAS members, who did not vote for BN in GE14, to vote for us,” he said.

Wong said this was the first time an Umno by-election candidate had gained from the PAS-Umno informal pact.

“This will increase Umno’s dependence on PAS’ votes and dance to the latter’s tune. Expect Umno and PAS to be more gung-ho on ethno-religious issues,” he said.

The victory would lessen Umno’s motivation to transform itself, Wong said.

“(Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) will claim credit for his high-profile campaigning and use it to convince the party to rally behind him,” he said.

“This, however, will only alienate the middle ground voters and may trigger another round of exodus amongst Umno lawmakers.”

Azizuddin said Umno would claim that the Cameron Highlands win was proof that it could collaborate with PAS and win.

“This will boost the two parties to continue to collaborate,” he said.

One significant lesson that Barisan learnt from the by-election, said Asyraf, was for Barisan and PAS to work together in the future to avoid three-cornered fights.

He said the result also indicated that Pakatan could still not win the Malay votes.

“Malays do not see Pakatan, especially PPBM (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), to be the viable alternative to Umno,” he said.

Asyraf said the Malays were suspicious of the Pakatan government.

“The recent incident of the Chief Justice, Attorney General and Pakatan lawyers dancing reflected that Pakatan did not practise what it preached,” he said.

The Barisan victory also showed that there was strong sentiment against the Pakatan government because of its empty promises, especially to Felda settlers, said Asyraf.

They blamed the present government for the drop in palm oil and rubber prices, he said.

Azizuddin disagreed that the Barisan victory could be interpreted as a protest vote.

“The Chinese and Indians stuck with Pakatan while the Malays and orang asli voted for BN, which is the same pattern as in GE14. The difference is the low voter turnout which affected Pakatan,” he said.

Asyraf described the Cameron Highlands’ win as a stunning victory for Barisan.

It was, he said, a morale booster for the coalition.