THE Tanjung Piai by-election will be a referendum on Pakatan Harapan and a testing ground for the newly forged alliance between Umno and PAS, said Salahuddin Ayob

The Amanah deputy president said retaining the seat was going to be an uphill task for PH in light of the new found co-operation between the opposition parties.

He said that it would be interesting to see how the people viewed PAS and Umno working together, and it would also determine if MCA had recovered ground among the Chinese community since the last general election.

“We (Pakatan Harapan) will take the middle path. We will go with moderation and explain to the people what we have done,” Salahuddin was quoted as saying in a Star Online report today.

The by-election is being called following the death of incumbent Md Farid Md Rafik last Saturday.

Farid was a deputy minister reporting to P. Waytha Moorthy, who has the national unity and social wellbeing portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Department.

In the last general election, Farid beat MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng, who held the seat for two terms, with a majority of 524 votes.

The other contender for the seat, Nordin Othman of PAS, polled 2,962 votes.

The constituency has 53,528 voters, with 57% of them Malays, 42% Chinese and Indians making up the rest.

The Election Commission is set to meet next Tuesday to set the nomination and polling dates for the by-election.

The PH election director noted that Tanjung Piai was a mixed seat, support from only one race was not sufficient to win the seat.

He hoped a local candidate would be fielded for the seat.

“Whether a man or woman, young or old, as long as it is a local person who is accepted by all communities, that is OK with me,” Salahuddin added.

Yesterday, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the party would discuss with its BN partners on which candidate to field for the seat, which was previously contested by component MCA.

Going by the constituency’s breakdown by race, it is highly likely the former ruling pact will name a candidate from Umno.

In the Cameron Highlands by-election earlier this year, BN went with an Orang Asli candidate instead of one from MIC, a decision that worked in the coalition’s favour.

Umno and PAS had, at the time, worked together to drum up support for Ramli Mohd Nor, setting the stage for co-operation in subsequent by-elections in Semenyih, Selangor, and Rantau, Negri Sembilan. – September 24, 2019.