SELANGOR senior executive councillor Teng Chang Khim believes three-cornered fights in the next elections will benefit Pakatan Harapan even if the Election Commission pushes through its re-delineation proposal.

The state government think-tank Institut Darul Ehsan previously said the EC’s re-delineation exercise would benefit Barisan Nasional, which could win up to 20 seats, PAS (9), DAP (15) and PKR (12) based on the 2013 voting trends.

However, Teng said even if PH were to lose six state seats affected by the re-delineation, the Selangor opposition would only have 18 seats.

“Now the opposition (BN) only has 12 seats, with an increase of six, there is only 18. Selangor has 56 seats, any party needs to win 29 seats to govern.

“Even if we were to lose all six seats, plus two independents and the 12 seats BN currently holds, we would still have 36 seats. This is the situation in 2018,” Teng told The Malaysian Insight.

The six seats in Selangor that would be affected by the re-delineation are Bukit Antarabangsa (PKR), Ijok (PKR), Hulu Kelang (Amanah), Sijangkang (PAS), Morib (Amanah) and Cempaka (PAS).

Teng said BN wants to win over these seats by redrawing the electoral boundaries to turn them from mixed seats to Malay-majority seats but it is insufficient to help BN wrest back Selangor, the wealthiest state in Malaysia.

The former Selangor speaker and DAP central committee member added that PH is not daunted by the potential cooperation between PAS and Umno in Selangor. 

PAS and Umno’s attempt to play up religious or racial sentiments would only backfire on them in Selangor as the state’s voters are more discerning, he said.

“BN shouldn’t think it’s easy to fool the people, especially in Selangor. Voters get their information from various sources, not just the official media,” said Teng.

He said PAS is weakened after leaving the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat, and an Umno that does not even have a menteri besar candidate is hardly a threat to PH.

“Don’t forget PAS relied on Chinese voters’ support for us (PR) to win. They will lose the (13) seats they have now without Chinese support.

“Especially in 2013, the majority they gained in seven to eight seats were from non-Malay votes.”

As a pact, PR had won more than two-thirds of the 56 seats in Selangor in 2013, with PAS and DAP each winning 15 seats and PKR 14.

Except for Umno, BN component parties were wiped out in Selangor. BN won 12 seats, primarily in rural constituencies.

Teng believes former PR supporters, including Malay voters, would vote for PH instead of PAS in the 14th general election that must be held by August. 

As such, PH should be able to wrest some seats from PAS, whose best electoral record in Selangor when it contested alone was winning four out of the 48 state seats in the 1999 elections.

The seven seats PAS won in 2008 and later 13 seats in 2013 were due to overall support for PR and not solely the Islamist party’s own efforts, said Teng.

“If PAS doesn’t work with us (Pakatan Harapan), its strength in Selangor will not be as strong as before.

“Now they have returned to their previous position. In the best-case scenario, they could repeat their feat of winning four seats in 1999,” said Teng.

As the Islamist party is now out of the opposition pact, the gains it made since the 2008 political tsunami would vanish, he said.

PH currently holds 29 out of the 56 state seats in Selangor, followed by PAS (13), BN (12) and two independents.

He said PAS is likely to become a spoiler for BN in Selangor rather than PH.

More importantly, PH has the support of grassroots voters as it has improved local infrastructure, the state’s economy and introduced several welfare programmes for the people, Teng said.

“We don’t need to ride on anti-BN sentiments. We can use our achievements in Selangor in the past 10 years (to win over the people). 

“I think we are at our best right now based on our governance record.” – February 5, 2018.