MIDWAY through the Tanjung Piai by-election, Pakatan Harapan has hit a major speed bump that threatens to derail its quest to defend the parliamentary seat.

Sources in the ruling coalition acknowledged that a video of Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu appearing to sacrifice his DAP allies to appease Umno supporters has thrown a monkey wrench into the campaign.

The video is the latest blow to the perception of DAP among the Chinese, who comprise 42% of Tg Piai’s voters.

PH’s dented image among Chinese voters stands in contrast to Barisan Nasional, whose officials said the opposition front has received “exceptional” response from the community.

The one bright spot, said PH officials, is that there is a rise in Malay support towards the coalition, but it is still unclear whether this increase is enough to balance the loss of support from Chinese voters.

Since the start of official campaigning on November 2, DAP volunteers were already dejected with the ongoing feud between their party and Bersatu, of which Faizal is a member. But, they were persuaded to turn out after much convincing from senior leaders.

Now, it is learnt that DAP’s top chiefs are forced to go around again and soothe members’ feelings after Faizal’s video surfaced on Friday.

The blowback from DAP supporters will see a larger decrease in Chinese votes for PH than anticipated and boost BN’s chances of recapturing the seat.

Tg Piai has been a BN stronghold since it was established and first contested in the 2004 elections by the coalition’s Chinese party, MCA.

BN lost the seat in the 14th general election by a narrow margin of 524 votes. The constituency has more than 52,000 voters.

A critical reason for BN’s loss was that 64% of Chinese voters swung towards PH despite the fact that MCA has deep roots in the community and that the seat was held for two terms by Wee Jeck Seng.

Analysis by PH strategists revealed that the coalition must maintain similarly high levels of Chinese support if it wants to retain Tg Piai.

PH must also increase its support from Malays, who make up 57% of voters, by 3% to 5%. In GE14, the pact received 32% of the community’s vote.

“Faizal’s video will definitely have an impact on the Chinese vote. DAP leaders are going around telling their supporters to focus on winning Tg Piai first,” said an official in the PH campaign.

“After the by-election, they will deal with Faizal,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

Welcoming Malays

On the other hand, Malay kampung folk, particularly in the Kukup area, are warming up to PH in ways never seen before.

This change in attitude is mostly due to the service record of former MP Dr Md Farid Md Rafik – whose untimely death sparked the by-election – and PH’s status as the federal and state governments.

“Villagers who used to vote only for BN are now opening their eyes to PH because of Farid’s work,” said Rosman Abdullah, 66, of Kg Seri Bunian.

“They saw how he helped out schools and villages regardless of whether they were Umno supporters or not. He was hardworking and always on the ground,” said the pensioner.

In his short 18 months as their parliamentarian, Farid brought in about RM19 million in ongoing infrastructure projects for the constituency, mostly for boosting the fishing and local tourism industries.

In its campaign among Malays, PH politicians are playing up the late anaesthesiologist’s contributions, and the importance of maintaining the coalition’s control of the constituency to continue those projects.

Rosman’s friend, Osman Yatim, said there is a noticeable change in the perception of village elders and youth towards PH.

“Every villager wants to see development in his village and for the community to thrive. They saw Farid’s work and they are more open to the PH government.”

Despite the better reception PH is seeing among Malays, officials such as Wan Sharani Wan Abdul Jalil are uncertain whether the goodwill will translate into votes.

This is due to Umno’s strong and deep presence among villagers, especially older folk, and being seen as a PH supporter is still a stigma.

“We’ve met many people, especially youth, who say they will quietly vote for us. They won’t declare their support openly by joining our ceramah,” said Wan Sharani, who oversees operations in three Malay-majority polling districts in Kukup.

“Although there is an increase in Malay support, we don’t know if it’s enough. We still have to work very, very hard.” – November 11, 2019.