KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): The state elections in six states — Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah — will be a crucial test whether the “green tide” in the 15th general election is invincible or a fluke shot, according to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
He said this in a statement on Saturday (Dec 10), following the 16,260-vote majority win of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate in the Padang Serai parliamentary constituency on Wednesday.
Lim said an analysis of the three parliamentary seats won by PN in Penang — two by PAS and one by Bersatu — showed that the combined votes for the candidates under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government exceeded the votes for the PN candidates.
He said that for the Permatang Pauh seat, the combined votes for Pakatan Harapan-PKR candidate Nurul Izzah Anwar, who got 32,638 votes, and Barisan Nasional-Umno candidate Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said, who secured 16,971 votes, totalled 49,337 votes — more than the winning votes for the PN-PAS candidate, Mohd Fawwaz Mat Jan, who secured 37,638 votes.
Meanwhile, Lim said that for the Kepala Batas seat, the combined votes for BN-Umno candidate Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who got 25,737 votes, and Muda candidate Danial Abdul Majeed, who got 14,214 votes, came to 39,951 votes — more than the winning votes for the PN-PAS candidate, Mastura Muhammad, who secured 28,604 votes.
He said the same applies to the Tasek Gelugor seat, where the combined votes for BN-Umno candidate Datuk Muhammad Yusuff Mohd Noor, who won 18,684 votes, and PH-Amanah candidate Nik Abdul Razak Nik Md Ridzuan, who won 16,547 votes, came to 35,237 votes — more than the winning votes for the PN-Bersatu candidate, Wan Saifulrudin Wan Jan, who secured 31,116 votes.
“Political analyst Bridget Welsh estimated that PH won approximately 11% of Malay voters in Peninsular Malaysia, but former Member of Parliament for Bangi and former deputy international trade and industry minister Dr Ong Kian Ming estimated that PH’s Malay support would be higher than 11% in states where it is the incumbent state government — Selangor (52.4%), Penang (59.4%), and Negeri Sembilan (44.4%).
“I have never been a believer of the inevitability of any movement even since the 50s in the last century, when there were those who believed in the inevitability of Communism,” he said.