Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs scrambled today to contain the damage from yesterday\u2019s twin by-election defeats, claiming the results had been expected and would not weaken the pact\u2019s position ahead of the general election.<\/p>\n
They claimed PAS\u2019s defeat in the state constituencies of Kerdau in Pahang and Merlimau in Malacca had not caused a chink in the pact\u2019s armour, and did not mean the federal opposition had lost momentum ahead of national polls.<\/p>\n
When approached in Parliament today, several PR lawmakers reasoned that both constituencies are traditional Barisan Nasional (BN) strongholds, adding that the ruling pact had been a shoo-in to win in both seats from the very beginning,<\/p>\n
PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar also claimed that PAS\u2019s participation in both the Kerdau and Merlimau contests had merely been \u201cexercise\u201d for PR\u2019s election machinery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not see that we have lost our momentum to face the 13th general election. In both these by-elections, they were BN fortresses and they were just traditional losses for us,\u201d he told reporters in Parliament today.<\/p>\n
The Pokok Sena MP added that he had never expected PAS to win in yesterday\u2019s contests and, hence, did not feel that the party or PR had suffered any losses from the defeats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said before that our participation in the polls was merely to exercise our election machinery. It is not like we went in to win, just to exercise, so there were no losses for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mahfuz added that despite the strength of Umno and BN\u2019s election machinery, the ruling pact had not succeeded in widening its majorities significantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven with their attacks and accusations against us, they only succeeded in lowering our votes by very little.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith such a massive battalion, they should have done better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said PR\u2019s defeat last night was not an indication that the pact had failed to garner the support from the rural areas, particularly from the Malay community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI disagree because in areas that PKR covered, like in Felda Jengka 25, 22, we actually had a slight increase of votes… coming from the Felda heartland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this mean? It means that if we are able to work hard and communicate our messages and readiness to implement political transformation in these areas, even the Malay heartland, we can do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be a minute detail but it is something that can be done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She added that the small vote increase in the Felda areas was an \u201cencouraging\u201d detail but PR would have to work harder to ensure a better performance in the coming general election.<\/p>\n
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said that much like the by-elections in Tenang and Bagan Pinang, both the Kerdau and Merlimau seats were traditionally BN\u2019s strongholds.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it is not something that should cause us to feel shocked. Unless we lose in our fortresses, in places where we are the incumbent… like in Hulu Selangor or in Terengganu.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut here, I think it is just a common phenomenon. We only need to study the vote majority according to the races,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng concurred with his colleagues\u2019 views, adding that it was no surprise that BN had retained both seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cPahang is a BN stronghold… that is why they managed to increase their majority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
MCA vice-president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong also agreed that yesterday\u2019s results did not spell the end for PR, warning BN against underestimating its opponents in the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir loss does not mean that they will not come back. We must not be over-confident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must be a little conservative. A win is good but we need to think about what comes next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When asked if he felt that BN was strongest only in rural areas, Wee said that it was important for the pact to be strong in all areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are not doing well in urban areas, then we must strengthen our performance. At the same time, we must keep our support base in the rural areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever it is, when we come to the election, we must win in all 222 seats (in Parliament),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
PR suffered its fourth and fifth by-election loss when polls closed in Merlimau and Kerdau yesterday, a major defeat for the coalition which had earlier been basking in continuous victories after emerging from a sterling performance in Elections 2008.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s elections, BN retained the Merlimau state seat when Umno\u2019s Roslan Ahmad defeated PAS candidate Yuhaizad Abdullah with a majority of 3,643 votes. Roslan obtained 5,962 votes compared with Yuhaizad\u2019s 2,319.<\/p>\n
In Kerdau, BN candidate Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad defeated PAS candidate Hasanuddin Salim by a majority of 2,724 votes. Syed Ibrahim obtained 5,060 votes to Hasanuddin\u2019s 2,336 votes. – Malaysian Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs scrambled today to contain the damage from yesterday\u2019s twin by-election defeats, claiming the results had been expected and would not weaken the pact\u2019s position ahead of the general election. They claimed PAS\u2019s defeat in the state constituencies of Kerdau in Pahang and Merlimau in Malacca had not caused a chink in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}