Permatang Pasir result a big boost for PAS, PR

Permatang Pasir result a big boost for PAS, PR

TheEdge

Tags: Barisan Nasional Mohd Salleh Man Pas Permatang Pasir by-election Rohaizat Othman
Written by Yong Min Wei & Lam Jian Wyn
Wednesday, 26 August 2009 00:29


KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional’s (BN) moral victory in the Manek Urai by-election last month does not appear to have rejuvenated the coalition’s political clout and campaign machinery as it went down tamely to PAS by a 4,551-vote majority in the Permatang Pasir by-election yesterday.

The result was seen as a big boost for PAS compared with the razor-thin 65-vote majority in Manek Urai as voters seemed least distracted by Kedah’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh quitting the party as well as showing little interest in the pledge by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to adopt the constituency as its golden child (anak emas) should BN win.

The Permatang Pasir battle saw PAS Penang commissioner Mohd Salleh Man garnering 9,618 votes to defeat BN’s Rohaizat Othman who obtained 5,067 votes after 73% of the electorate cast their votes.

While the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock was rarely brought up in the campaign, the opposition pact was certainly riding on the disbarment of Rohaizat to fish for votes, especially when revelations from the Bar Council and the candidate’s previous legal firm partner put his character and credibility into question.

In fact, several Umno veterans publicly questioned the choice of the party’s candidate, forcing BN to be on the defensive and claiming Rohaizat was a victim of circumstances.

The latest win by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) meant that the opposition pact now leads BN 6-0 in by-election face-offs in the peninsula following the March 8, 2008 general election. BN abstained from contesting in Penanti but won Batang Ai in Sarawak earlier this year putting the overall PR versus BN score at 6-1.

Opinion research firm Merdeka Center’s programme director Ben Suffian felt that BN’s play on race was becoming tiresome, turning off voters in the process.

“The BN led into the campaign by calling Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a traitor — it didn’t work because it (Permatang Pasir) is his stronghold.

“The racial card does not bring anything new to pragmatic and non-ideological voters. Given that it has been an opposition domain for the past 15 years, it shows that Permatang Pasir residents have been left out by their co-religionists,” he said.

He also called the national coalition’s campaign “lacklustre”, given their poor choice of candidate which saw Rohaizat’s entire campaign defending himself, as well as their focus on more typical issues such as the economic recession, income and rural constituencies.

He added that PAS’ campaign was commendable given that the by-election fell on a working day during the fasting month, where many voters could not come home to cast their ballots. He also stressed that the results should be interpreted in terms of percentages.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat, who is a Sunway Monash University lecturer, echoed this perspective, calling the absolute figures “misleading”. It’s a great, great indicator,” he said.“In the bigger picture, the question is ‘Why do we need Umno?’ The argument where ‘if you vote for me, I can get federal government support,’ is old and doesn’t work anymore,” he said.

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said the voters in Permatang Pasir could have reduced PAS’ majority by more than 900 votes if the BN had been more careful with its selection process of its candidate, adding that the public expectation on the quality of the ruling coalition’s candidate was always higher.

“There is always a moral stigma on BN’s candidate. They (the voters) were not very comfortable with the candidate. In order to gain more confidence from the voters, BN cannot belittle the voters,” he told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.

Nevertheless, Ti said the reduced majority showed that the winning momentum for PR was slowing down, stressing that it was the best time for BN now to “take stock” and make drastic changes to tackle issues of abuse of power while promoting transparency and integrity in its administration.

“Generally, the result is still a good sign as it shows the people still think of BN. They know BN is the party that is serious to govern. It’s just that they have not swung back to BN,” said Ti, who is chairman of MCA NGO liaison bureau and a former three-term state assemblyman.

Meanwhile, DAP international secretary Liew Chin Tong said it was a “sweet victory” for PR despite facing attacks on racial grounds by the BN which included labelling DAP as anti-Islam and that DAP had caused disputes in Islamic issues in Selangor.“We have stood our ground and in fact the margin for the vote majority only declined by some 1%,” he said.According to the Bukit Bendera MP, PAS, which garnered a 5,433-vote majority in the 12th general election, had secured a 32.7% margin from the voter turnout while its popularity had only dipped marginally from the current voter turnout in the by-election, thus, it did not necessarily mean PR had lost some 900 of its base voters.