CHINESE voters have started to move away from Pakatan Harapan (PH) since the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election in 2019, a survey by think tank Ilham Centre has revealed.

Based on its findings, the independent research firm concluded the swing of votes also occurred at the Slim by-election last year, as well as in the recent Malacca polls. 

However, Ilham Centre said PH still commands Chinese support in areas where there are more than 50% Chinese voters. 

“At the Tanjung Piai by-election, we predicted Barisan Nasional (BN) will win big while PH will suffer a major blow. At that time, the Chinese were moving away because of the Jawi issue and several other issues. 

“In the last general election, PH received 94% of Chinese votes but now the figure is 71%. A huge gap. The votes went to BN. 

“In Malacca PH lost in mixed seats, where the non-Malays had played a key role in ensuring PH’s victory in GE14 and PH only managed to hold on in areas where Chinese formed more than 50%, of the voters,” said Prof Dr Yusri Ibrahim Ilham Centre’s chief researcher. 

In the Malacca elections, PH won in Ayer Keroh, Bandar Hilir, Kesidang, Kota Laksamana and Bukit Katil. 

Out of the five seats, four were won by DAP, with Amanah’s Adly Zahari retaining Bukit Katil. 

In the last GE, DAP won eight seats but in the state polls, the party lost Bemban, Gadek, Duyong and Pengkalan Batu. 

Pengkalan Batu was previously represented by independent Norhizam Hassan Baktee – who won on a DAP ticket in the 14th general election, but left the party to topple the PH government in March last year. 

PH, especially DAP, enjoyed huge support from the non-Malays in the 14th general election. 

PH won in Negri Sembilan, Johor, Malacca, Perak, Kedah and Sabah, while retaining Selangor and Penang.  

Yusri said the Chinese were against PH’s idea to accept Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan into the fold. 

He said based on Ilham Centre’s survey, other than the Chinese, youth, middle and upper class voters were all against PH’s move to let the two former Umno men to contest under the opposition’s banner. 

“Seventy-four per cent of respondents agreed that political frogs should not be nominated, 64% of respondents disagreed with PH in accepting Idris and 63% did not feel Idris should be PH’s candidate.

“As a result, Idris lost badly in Asahan as the non-Malays did not cast their votes for the former chief minister,” he added. 

The Malacca government collapsed after four elected representatives pulled their support for the BN-Perikatan Nasional (PN) state government led by Umno. 

The defection on October 4 was led by state Umno strongman Idris, with the support of Nor Azman, Norhizam and Noor Effandi Ahmad.

Only Noor Effandi did not contest in the state elections.

Ilham Centre interviewed 1,051 respondents from all races aged 21 to 60. 

The survey was conducted from October 23 to November 15. 

At the Malacca elections, PH contested in all 28 seats but only won five. PKR lost all 11 seats it contested while DAP won four and Amanah took one. 

BN secured 21 seats (75%) while PN took the remaining two seats. – November 30, 2021.