A 10% swing of voters nationwide is enough to bring down the Barisan Nasional government, said Daim Zainuddin, who added there was no need for a “Malay tsunami”.

The former finance minister said that to achieve this, opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan must push hard and take out the BN seats in the urban and semi-urban seats.

Daim told Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau that the election’s outcome lay in the semi-urban constituencies, and that PH had a good chance of taking over federal power if it won those seats.

He explained that urban voters had always supported the opposition and PH would have no difficulty winning their seats.

“The advent of the internet and social media has made it possible for people, especially the youth in semi-urban areas, to gain information firsthand.

“They know the issues, and BN clearly has difficulty explaining many major issues to the public,” Daim told Nanyang Siang Pau, which published the interview today.

He said the corruption cases involving the Federal Land Development Agency, Tabung Haji, and other government agencies had been widely circulated.

“Semi-urban areas where Malay voters know of them are definitely going to think about them. Umno’s support is bound to be affected,” he said.

However, Daim, who has now hit the campaign trail for PH, stopped short of predicting who will win the 14th general election and form the next government.

“I don’t think anyone knows who will win. I can only say that this is the most important election since independence. It concerns the future of the country,” he said.

He said PH would win Kedah and Perak and retain Selangor and Penang, with the fight in Sabah and Johor being 50-50.

Daim said the PAS government in Kelantan would also fall, but did not say who would be likely to form the new state government.

In the case of Negri Sembilan, Daim said PH needed a good menteri besar candidate to win.

Daim’s predictions in general elections have been accurate. In 2008, he predicted the fall of Penang, Kedah, Perak and, Selangor to the then-Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Before the national election in 2013, Daim asserted that BN would not do well as expected, but said it would win Kedah back. – May 3, 2018.