THE sales and services tax, as well as cost-of-living issues and unclear government policies, are the reasons military and police personnel in Seri Setia voted for the opposition.

Military personnel at the Subang airbase told The Malaysian Insight that even though they liked the Pakatan Harapan government, they felt that it was not delivering on its promises.

“There were a lot of them (soldiers) who voted for PAS. We are loyal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, not the government,” said a soldier on condition of anonymity.

The by-election on Saturday saw PH candidate Halimey Abu Bakar, of PKR, defeating PAS’ Dr Halimah Ali.

Halimey won the state seat by 4,027 votes, securing a total of 13,725 votes to Dr Halimah‘s 9,698. It was a drop for PH, which won Seri Setia by 4,563 votes in the 14th general election.

Almost 68% of armed forces personnel chose PAS, with the Islamist party getting 1,274 votes from the group, compared with PH’s 864.

In GE14, PAS secured only 518 votes from armed forces personnel, whereas Barisan Nasional got 798 and PH, 703.

“The goods and services tax was 6%, but now, SST is 10%... what is wrong with the government today?” said a 52-year-old sergeant.

“We look at it policy-wise, it is still unclear… they (soldiers) still follow the directives of the government, but the ministers do not hear the concerns of the people.”

An analyst said Malays voted for PH in GE14 not primarily due to the pact’s agenda of change, but because they wanted to get rid of the BN government.

“The Malay vote for PH in GE14 was not genuinely based on the coalition’s promise of change. It was because Malays rejected kleptocracy and were protesting against former prime minister Najib Razak,” said Ilham Centre CEO Mohd Azlan Zainal.

“On the voter trend for the military and armed forces in GE14, their votes were affected by several issues, but the change was not drastic.”

He said post-GE14, PH failed to fully deliver on its manifesto pledges.

“The majority of low-ranked soldiers are suffering from cost-of-living issues, as their household expenses are big.

“The racial dogma that exists among soldiers has still not been eradicated, even though the government has changed.

“As for issues involving Malay-Islam, soldiers’ doctrine is to be loyal to the religion, king and race, so they are taken in by the words of the opposition, which clearly have had an impact.”

A 23-year-old soldier said many troops were unhappy about the high cost of living.

“A lot of people are miserable about things like this (SST), not the 100-day promises in the manifesto.

“People like the new government, but they are not what they picture themselves to be.” – September 10, 2018.