IF Pakatan Harapan can win the Ayer Hitam federal seat, it will win another 10 parliamentary seats in Johor, said Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong.

Acknowledging that it was an MCA and Barisan Nasional stronghold, Liew said Ayer Hitam has never featured in the opposition’s list of target seats.

But he said the seat is not impenetrable.

“In the past, Ayer Hitam never featured as a target seat. But this time we are targeting it because if we can win in Ayer Hitam then we can definitely win 10 more federal seats in Johor,” said Liew during the launch of the PH Ayer Hitam election centre today.

PH currently has five federal seats in Johor – Pagoh, Kluang, Kulai, Gelang Patah and Bakri.

DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang said PH would need a 15% swing of Malay votes and a 10% swing of non-Malay votes to win Ayer Hitam.

Admitting that DAP would be an underdog in the fight for Ayer Hitam, Lim cautioned that it would be “extremely arrogant for BN and MCA to think that voters in Ayer Hitam would vote for a bottle of soya sauce over a DAP or Amanah candidate”.

“BN should be reminded that its winning majority was cut in half from 13,909 votes in GE12 to 7,310 in GE13. And that the state seat of Yong Peng in Ayer Hitam, which was won by BN with a 2,493 vote majority in GE12 was won by the DAP in GE2013 with a 2,475 vote majority.

“Hence, although it would be difficult for PH to wrest this seat away from MCA, it is not impossible,” said the Gelang Patah MP.

Although the seat was given to DAP during the PH seat negotiations, the seat is expected to field a candidate from Amanah.

Among the names that have been bandied about for Ayer Hitam are Kubang Krian MP Hatta Ramli and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, who is a Johor native.

Although Wee won Ayer Hitam handsomely in 2013 against PAS’ Hu Pang Chaw, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department saw his margin drop from 13,909 votes (GE12) to 7,310.

The seat consists of 56% Malays, 38% Chinese and 4% Indians.

The launch was also attended by Amanah state chief and Parit Yaani lawmaker Amirul Huda Hassan, Johor PKR information chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, DAP national vice-chairman Gobind Singh Deo and Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming. – January 28, 2018.