National issues to fore during election campaign

SEREMBAN: With seven more days to go until the Rantau byelection, the national issues seemed to have dominated the campaign trails of two candidates – Dr S. Streram from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan from the Barisan Nasional (BN).

One of the issues raised frequently was the comparison between the federal government under the current PH administration and the BN.

Political analyst Md Shukri Shuib said the trend was not unusual as this upcoming byelection was viewed by many quarters as the by-election that would determine the future survival of both PH and BN.

“For them, the Rantau byelection will serve as a benchmark to see whether the BN’s winning momentum after the Cameron Highlands and Semenyih byelections will continue here or it will be stopped by PH,” he told Bernama here.

The Rantau by-election on April 13 will witness a four-cornered fight involving Dr Streram, who is also PKR Rembau deputy chief, Mohamad, who is also Umno deputy president and two independent candidates, housewife R. Malarvizhi and former lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin.

However, Md Shukri, who is also Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) political and international studies senior lecturer, said the coming by-election, seventh to be held after the 14th General Election, in May last year, should not be defined in such a way.

“Rantau is not the mother of all by-elections, it is to maintain the status quo and if BN wins it will not bring political trauma to PH as BN has been here for three terms. Likewise, if the PH wins in the coming Sandakan parliamentary by-election, it is expected as Sandakan is their fortress,” he said.-Bernama