The 2,300-odd Chinese voters in Galas will continue to support PAS even if popular Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah leads the BN charge as its candidate in the state by-election, according to Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
“We want to tell the people it’s not Ku Li (as Razaleigh is popularly known) we are fighting but the party he represents.
“Ku Li is a good salesman but the product he is selling, which is Barisan Nasional, is not good at all,” said a PAS leader in charge of winning over Chinese voters in Galas.
The PAS strategist, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was confident of securing Chinese votes because of a “nationwide trend” that showed that younger voters were influencing the older generation not to vote for BN.
“We won in 2008 and the Kelantan government has been doing a good job so it does not have to worry about the Chinese voters. MCA was strong but in the past. Look at Kampung Pulai, MCA only won there by a mere 25 votes whereas in other places like the BN stronghold in Kampung Baru, we won by a large margin,” he said.
(But Gua Musang MCA division chief Chee Sien Chen recently claimed that the Chinese in Galas no longer have confidence in PAS, which did not bring any development. He said the Chinese had make known their stand to vote for BN this time around.)
PAS Supporters’ Congress head Hu Pang Chow agreed that PAS was not worried about Chinese voters, saying that he expects some 70% of the Chinese votes to go to PAS.
Hu added the real fight was wooing the Malay voters.
“We are more worried about the Malay voters — they will be the kingmakers in Galas. Unless we can win them over, we would get in trouble. The Malays are the decisive factor because there are no reasons for the Chinese voters to turn away from us,” said the non-Muslim PAS wing chief.
Personal influence
Hu added that the Indians and Orang Asli would probably back PAS but the opposition would go all-out to secure their vote bank again.
“All these people know what is happening in Umno and MCA. Ku Li only has personal influence here and not party influence. His popularity won’t sway the younger voters whose thinking has changed with the times,” he said.
Hu’s supporters number about 300 in Galas.
He said in Kampung Pulai, which is predominantly Chinese, PAS expects to bag 50% of the Chinese votes there, but nearer to Gua Musang town, people are more open-minded.
“I was a teacher long ago in Gua Musang and many of the voters are my ex-students and I could try to use my influence there,” he added.
For the DAP, there is more hard work ahead. Its Galas election director Thomas Su said the party and its partners must still strive to win over the Chinese voting block.
“There are a couple of issues that we must resolve in Kampung Pulai, and we from the DAP will have to focus on some three areas which are predominantly Chinese,” said Su, who is also Pasir Pinjir state assemblyman.
He admitted that if Razaleigh decided to contest, it would not be an easy battle but added that the voters had become more discerning since 2008.
The recently updated voter count in Galas stands at 11,553, of which there are 7,125 Malays (61.63%) , 2,317 Chinese (20.08%), 185 Indians(1.6%), 1,889 indigenous people (16.37%), 10 Sarawak Bumiputeras (0.9%), and 127 postal votes.
The Galas constituency is 1,881.48 sq km in size, which is larger than Malacca.
Nomination is on Oct 26 while polling is on Nov 4.
The state seat fell vacant following the death of PAS rep, Che Hashim Sulaima, on Sept 27. Che Hashim made history in 2008 when he became the first PAS candidate to win a seat in the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency, defeating BN incumbent Saufi Deraman by a majority of 646 votes.
Two other seats in Gua Musang – Nenggeri and Paloh – are held by BN.
According to the 2008 electoral roll, there were 10,330 voters in Galas comprising 65.8% Malays (6,798), 22.03% Chinese (2,276), 1.81% Indian (187) and 10.32% others including the Orang Asli (1,926). There was a 81% turnout.-FMT
