WITH only two days left until polling day, political parties in Kelantan are going all out to win over and bring back outstation voters, a bloc that makes up almost 15% of the vote bank in the state.

The aggressive push to win over these voters, or “perantau”, reflects how important they are to boost a party’s chances of victory.

Think-tank Ilham Centre said because of their exposure to the national discourse, many outstation voters could sway to Pakatan Harapan this time.

Although 15% is the average percentage of outstation voters, their numbers could go up to 30% depending on parliamentary seats, said the think-tank’s executive director, Hisommudin Bakar.

There are about one million voters in Kelantan, according to Kelantan Amanah chief Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah.

Besides video messages targeted at these voters, Kelantan’s PAS-led government will provide free buses on a first-come, first-served basis to ferry Kelantanese voters back in time for polling day.

Its rival, the Pakatan Harapan coalition, meanwhile, has deployed personalities, such as Nik Omar Nik Aziz and Husam Musa in the Klang Valley, which has a high concentration of Kelantanese folk.

“The perantau vote has contributed to PAS’ victories in the past, especially during the time of (former menteri besar) Nik Abdul Aziz (Nik Mat),” said Hisommudin.   

When PAS feared it would lose Kelantan in the 2008 general election, Nik Aziz, widely respected by the Kelantanese, made a video plea to outstation voters to return and vote.

This time, Nik Aziz’s successor, Ahmad Yakob, recorded messages at the weekend urging Kelantanese folk to “return and defend Kelantan, which PAS has governed for 28 years”.

Kelantan PAS has also set up a outstation voter unit to organise free chartered buses, with return trips, from the central, northern and southern region to Kelantan on May 8.

An estimated 500 buses will ply destinations, such as Johor Baru, Balik Pulau (Penang), Kerian (Perak) Shah Alam (Selangor) and Kuala Lumpur.

Each bus seats 40 passengers, said Razali Ahmad, who is coordinating southern zone buses.

Razali said the largest number of trips would be from the central zone, with 350 buses working the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor area.

“All the seats on the buses from Johor have been booked. There are not enough seats to serve every outstation Kelantanese, so we hope that the rest come back on their own.”    

Hafizi Sabudin is one of them, and will carpool back to Tanah Merah from Selangor to cast his vote.

When asked what the voting trend was among his friends, Hafizi said: “Eight out 10 will vote for Barisan Nasional. Only two will vote for PH”. – May 7, 2018.