PAKATAN Harapan doubled its share of the Semai Orang Asli vote despite Barisan Nasional fielding one from their fold as its candidate in the Cameron Highlands by-election.

Data from nine Semai-majority polling stations showed that PH got 1,041 of the total of 4,502 Orang Asli votes cast yesterday. There are 29 polling stations in the Pahang federal seat.

In the 14th general election, PH received a measly 479 votes from the Semai stations. Yesterday, BN got 3,402 votes, compared with 3,921 in GE14.

Among the biggest jumps for PH were in Pos Betau (from 100 votes to 302), Pos Lenjang (47 to 126) and Pos Senderut (268 to 385).

Other stations that saw improvements were Pos Titom (8 to 65) and Pos Lanai (3 to 103). 

Interestingly, these five stations are located in the Jelai state constituency, a BN stronghold and held by Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

PH’s candidate, M. Manogaran of DAP, after conceding defeat last night, said despite losing the by-election, the ruling pact made inroads into Orang Asli areas in Jelai.

Some of the Orang Asli who testified in the election court against former Cameron Highlands MP C. Sivarraajh regarding acts of vote-buying ahead of GE14 are from Jelai.

Following the court’s decision to nullify Sivarraajh’s GE14 win, PH had hoped to galvanise Orang Asli voters by campaigning on a corruption-free platform.

However, the pact fared poorly at Semai polling stations in the DAP-held Tanah Rata, the other state seat in Cameron Highlands.

In Pos Terisu, Pos Telanuk, Pos Lemoi and Pos Mensun, Manogaran managed just 60 votes compared with the 1,111 reaped by BN candidate Ramli Mohd Nor.

One reason, perhaps, is that Ramli, now Cameron Highlands’ first Orang Asli MP, is a local boy from Pos Mensun. 

He won the by-election after securing 12,038 votes against Manogaran (8,800), and independents Sallehuddin Ab Talib (314) and Wong Seng Yee (276). – January 27, 2019.