PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) in constituencies with large Felda settlements, long seen as an Umno bastion, sweeping the majority of the seats at the recent general election.

The results of polls showed one in three parliamentary seats won by PN has a huge Felda settlement, making up about 35% of the total 73 seats won by the coalition.

PN captured 26 out of 54 seats in the Felda parliamentary constituencies, compared to the seven seats won by PAS at the 2018 general election.

In this general election, PAS secured 16 seats while the remaining 10 were scooped up by Bersatu.

Election data compiled by Felda activist group Pertubuan Suara Generasi Felda (PSGF) revealed that BN has consistently lost Felda parliamentary seats since the last three general elections.

In the 2013 general election the party won 48 out of 54 Felda parliamentary seats.

BN, which won 30 parliamentary seats in recent polls, lost 12 Felda parliamentary seats when it was only able to score in 16 federal constituencies this time.

Most of the Felda seats lost were in Pahang, areas that were previously said to be BN strongholds such as Jerantut, Maran, Kuala Krau and Rompin, which fell to PN.

The coalition also lost two Felda parliamentary seats in Kedah (Padang Terap, Baling) and Terengganu (Besut, Hulu Terengganu).

In Kelantan, BN lost the Gua Musang seat, which saw PN win narrowly in the seat held by Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for 11 terms.

It also lost one Felda seat each in Perak (Gerik), Malacca (Jasin) and Johor (Mersing).

The coalition, however, succeeded in wresting Tampin and Simpang Renggam from Pakatan Harapan (PH).

BN also maintained its dominance in Lenggong (Perak); Cameron Highland, Lipis, Paya Besar, Pekan and Bera (Pahang); Jelebu, Jempol and Kuala Pilah (in Negeri Sembilan); as well as Sembrong, Tenggara, Kota Tinggi and Pengerang (in Johor).

PSGF assistant secretary Ridhuan Esa said one of the main reasons that drove Felda settlers to vote PN was Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement to waive Felda settlers’ debts during his term as prime minister.

“Felda is no longer the stronghold of BN, nor is it the stronghold of any political party. PN’s decision to help reduce the settlers’ debts contributed greatly towards its victory in Felda areas,” he said.

In July 2021, Muhyiddin, then the prime minister, said that the PN government would write of a portion of the settlers’ debts worth RM8.3 billion, which was a big gripe among them.

In a speech in conjunction with Felda Settlers’ Day 2021, Muhyiddin said the move would involve streamlining the loans of early settlers.

These would include loans for replanting exercises (92,441 settlers), fertilisers (52,180 settlers), FGV Holdings Bhd shares (38,043 settlers) and development capital (6,711 settlers).

Following this, he said, the loan burden of each settler would be reduced by up to 80%.

Muhyiddin had said the average loan repayment amount was expected to drop from between RM800 and RM1,000 a month to only between RM250 and RM300 a month for palm oil smallholders and RM150 a month for rubber smallholders.

There were about 1.5 million electors who were eligible to vote in 317 Felda settlements in the recent general election.

Redhuan, who is also the head of Amanah Tenggara Youth, said polling data also showed that Felda voters in urban and semi-urban areas were more open to accepting PH.

But in Malay-majority areas such as Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, he said, PN was more favourable.

“Among other factors are Malay and Islamic sentiments.

“It can be said that Malay Felda voters in Johor, Negri Sembilan and Selangor are more progressive, as they interact with the other races far more often than in the north and in the east coast.

“In some Felda areas that are close to the city, they are not in rural areas, they are semi-urban areas, so maybe that’s why PH could retain their seats,” he said.

In the recently concluded polls, PH won only 11 Felda parliamentary seats.

It lost in Kulim Bandar Bharu, Hulu Selangor, Temerloh and Tampin. The Kubang Pasu and Pagoh seats were contested by Bersatu, when the party was part of PH in the 2018 general election.

PH component party Amanah won one seat in Alor Gajah, while PKR’s Felda seats were mostly won in Johor – Segamat, Sekijang, Ledang and Tebrau. In Perak it captured Sungai Siput and Tanjung Malim.

DAP won in Kulai, Labis, Bentong and Raub, while Warisan managed to maintain its dominance in Silam but lost in Kalabakan to BN.

Redhuan added that PH did not give special focus to the Felda seats in their general election campaign.

He did not rule out the possibility that it caused the coalition to lose some seats.

“PH this time did not focus on Felda seats, their campaign was focused on urban and semi-urban areas, no mega ceramah in the villages,” he said.

Ilham Center Executive Director, Hisommudin Bakar, said the weakness of the BN machinery in trying to win votes had contributed to the coalition’s fall in its one-time bastion.

“That happened because of BN’s weakness, if in Felda the average young person (previously) gave (support) to BN, this time they shifted their support to defend their Malay identity and voted for PN.

“One of the reasons is BN lost is that it was still naming old candidates. People want new faces, in the village areas BN is not as active as it used to be,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Hisommudin said BN’s position in the area began to weaken in 2018 when PH, who at the time had Bersatu as a component party, campaigned in Felda, banking in on the influence of its former chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“The split has started since the general election in 2018, first to PH, this time to PN.

“It’s the Bersatu factor. Before, the party was with PH but now they are with PN,” he said.

The shift in support also was likely due to automatic voter registration. Many first-time voters were drawn to PN’s campaign pitch.

PN also benefited from its effective campaign on social media.

“For the youth segment (their support) is fragile and it just so happened that the trend was successfully created by the PN, especially on TikTok,” he added. – December 1, 2022.