DESPITE securing votes from some segments of young voters in the Pelangai state by-election, Perikatan Nasional (PN) failed to receive the support of the elderly and non-Muslim voters, political observers said.

They told The Malaysian Insight PN is still not able to entice non-Malay voters to back the coalition and wasn’t able to gain the trust of elderly Felda settlers who used to back Barisan Nasional (BN) for decades.

BN retained the Pelangai state seat in Pahang last Saturday when its candidate Amizar Abu Adam won by 2,949 votes.

The Bentong Umno committee member polled 7,324 votes to beat PN’s Kasim Samat, who obtained 4,375 votes, and Independent candidate Haslihelmy D.M. Zulhasni, who received only 47 votes and lost his deposit.

The result was announced by returning officer Mohammad Shahid Ismail at the vote-tallying centre at Dewan Orang Ramai Felda Kemasul.

BN has held Pelangai since 1986.

Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar said PN failed to attract voters from three categories namely the elderly, Malay grassroots as well as the Chinese and Orang Asli.

He added that PN did well in obtaining the support from young Malay voters including the third generation of Felda settlers.

“Pelangai is a BN stronghold but the support for PN did increase especially from the young voters segment. BN should have received a bigger majority because of its partnership with Pakatan Harapan (PH).

“However, the votes went to PN. The third generation Felda settlers voted for PN and this is not a good sign for the government. But, PN could not get the votes from the first and second generation of Felda settlers who still voted for BN.

“Plus, BN hardcore supporters continued to back BN while the Chinese and Orang Asli did not favour PN.”

“PH-BN has to look for a formula on how to win over young voters,” said Hisomuddin.

The Pelangai by-election was held after incumbent Johari Harun, 53, who was also Pahang Local Government, Housing, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman, died in a plane crash in Shah Alam on August 17.

In the general election, Johari won the seat with a 4,048-vote majority, defeating Kasim who obtained 3,260 votes, PH’s Ahmed Wafiuddin Shamsuri who got 2,031 votes, and Pejuang’s Isa Ahmad who received 65 votes.

Amizar, a native of Felda Chemomoi, made his electoral debut in last year’s general election as the BN candidate for Ketari.

He lost by a narrow 120 votes to PH’s Su Keong Siong, who garnered 9,722 votes in a three-cornered contest also involving PN’s Tan Wei Leong (4,290 votes). 

Merdeka Centre’s Ibrahim Suffian on the other hand believes PN did not gain that much in the polls as some polling centres showed that voters below the age of 30 voted for the unity government.

He said it is still not clear whether PN received the support from young voters in Pelangai.

“Pelangai is BN’s fortress. Actually PN did not do enough as there’s no significant increase but a drop of 15 to 17%.

“The support for PH went to BN and the result showed that despite criticism of the unity government, party leaders from every component were there to lend their support in Pahang.

“To say that the youth backed PN is not very clear. In some places, those above the age of 30 voted for PN while in some areas, voters below 30 opted for BN,” said Ibrahim.

Responding to PN’s defeat last night, its chairman Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that PN achieved a better result in the by-election when compared to what it achieved in last year’s general election.

He said the coalition increased its votes in the by-election by 1,115.

He said this was achieved despite PH deploying all its machinery and government resources to assist BN’s campaign.

“The majority obtained by BN dropped from 4,048 in the general election to 2,949 in this by-election,” he said.

He said BN had failed to gain additional support from voters, although it had formed an alliance with PH.

Muhyiddin said there was instead a shift in support towards PN, especially among Malay voters.

BN received more Malay votes than Perikatan

Dr Mazlan Ali disagreed with Muhyiddin’s claim, as the academic stated that BN received 52% of Malay votes compared to PN’s 42%

He said the result was a good morale boost for BN who had just resolved its internal leadership crisis.

“It was a good result for BN because they had just come out from a crisis. During the crisis, we know some Umno leaders chose to back PN.

“This time BN managed to get 52% of Malay votes compared to PN. It is a good result for the Malay party and Zahid’s decision to work with PH was a good choice as non Malays voted for BN,” he said 

The academic at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia added that the green wave was not strong enough to penetrate Pahang.

“If you look at the score sheet, many voters aged 18 to 21 chose BN. These voters picked a candidate based on whom their parents would vote for.”

“There are some places like Pahang, Negri Sembilan and Johor where PN can’t get a foothold. In the long term, voters prefer stability,” he said. – October 9, 2023.