PAKATAN Harapan newcomer Bersatu will take the fight against Umno to its birthplace, contesting 18 out of 56 seats in the Johor state assembly in the 14th general election, said party sources.

The bulk of the 18 seats is held by Umno, such as Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin’s Permas and former exco Abd Latiff Bandi’s Endau.

Of the 18 seats, 16 are held by Umno, and the remaining two – Gambir and Tenggaroh – are held by MIC.

Latiff resigned from the post of executive councillor after he was charged with 33 counts of graft, involving RM30 million, by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in April last year.

During last year’s final state assembly sitting, Senai assemblyman Wong Shu Qi alleged that Khaled was involved in the same land scandal as Latiff.

She was subsequently ejected from the assembly for raising the allegation.

Meanwhile, DAP will contest 14 state seats, while PKR and Amanah have been allocated 12 each.

After a successful GE13, when the party won all of its 13 seats against MCA, DAP will now have to defend them against its arch-rival.

In 2013, MCA contested 15 state seats and lost all but two – Paloh and Pulai Sebatang.

In GE13, Barisan Nasional won 38 out of the 56 state seats after dropping 12 seats to the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

DAP was the biggest winner with 13 seats, followed by PAS (4) and PKR (1).

One of the PAS lawmakers, for Parit Yanni, has since joined Amanah.

Johor remains one of BN’s last bastions, where the coalition bucked the national trend by winning 53.98% of 1.36 million votes.

At the national level, BN won only 48% of the popular vote, compared with Pakatan Rakyat’s 51%. – January 20, 2018.