Camerons outcome a wake-up call, but ground-shaking it is not
Wan Haron Wan Hassan
-January 26, 2019 10:41 PM
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Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) won handsomely in Cameron Highlands. By any stretch of the imagination, it is not a ground shaking result.Many had predicted it and saw it coming, given the fact that Umno/BN had cleverly chosen a local Orang Asli candidate to assure it of strong support from Orang Asli and Malay voters.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate, an ethnic Indian, had an insurmountable task to ride above the politics of race and religion waged by Umno/BN.
On top of that, the PAS block votes were also expected to go to Umno/BN.
But if we are to compare today’s results with that of the last general election, the outcome was quite predictable.
In that election, the percentage of votes obtained by MIC/BN was 10,307 (40.7%), PAS 3,587 (14.2%) and PH 9,710 (38.3%). The turnout was 25,326 (79%). MIC/BN won by 597 votes.
Combined, MIC/BN and PAS got 13,894 (54.9%).
Here, with PAS choosing not to contest, Umno/BN’s share of the votes was 12,038 (56%), an improvement of 1.1% over the votes obtained by MIC/BN and PAS last year.
The majority for Umno/BN was 3,238, which more or less reflected the majority it obtained in the last general election plus some 3000 votes contributed by PAS.
PH, on the other hand, secured 8,800 votes (41%), an increase of about 3% from what it obtained in May 2018.
It would seem that most of the votes for PSM and Berjasa in GE14 had gone to PH.
This time, the turnout was 69%.
Now with such equations and permutations in the results, do you think it carries great ramifications and entails ground-shaking movements in the voting patterns? I do not think so.
Rather it is just a logical sequence and consequence of local politics, as well as voting patterns carried over from GE14. I do not think it would be accurate to think that the results reflect the national mood or sentiments of the people on the ground.
For supporters of PH who are looking at the larger picture, the results could be a blessing in disguise, to serve as a “wake-up” call to PH to reflect on what they have done wrong, and to understand where they failed or disappointed the people.
More important is the next general election. PH has time to correct things.
As for the upcoming Semenyih by-election, the combined votes obtained by Umno and PAS in GE14 was thousands short of the votes obtained by PH.
In GE14, PH obtained 23,428 votes (51%), Umno/BN 14,464 (31%) and PAS 6,966 (15%). The PH vote bank was about 2,000 more than the votes of Umno/BN and PAS combined.
If PH were to lose there in the coming by-election, then we can say that the country is going through significant changes in voting trends.
Wan Haron Wan Hassan is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
