Highland polls heating up
Camerons sees influx of supporters as by-election gets into gear
CAMERON HIGHLANDS: The temperature at the cool highlands rose several notches when a big crowd turned up on the day four candidates vied to be its MP in the by-election that was called after the incumbent was disqualified.
M. Manogaran, 59, of Pakatan Harapan will be hoping to be thirdtime lucky after he failed to unseat Barisan Nasional in his previous two bids for the parliamentary seat in the last two general elections.
In 2013 and 2018, the Pahang DAP deputy chairman lost the seat narrowly to former MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel by 462 votes and to Datuk C. Sivarraajh, then MIC Youth chief, by 597 votes respectively.
This time round, Barisan is pinning its hopes on retired senior cop Ramli Mohd Nor, 61, an orang asli native of Cameron Highlands, to retain victory for the coalition.
As nominations closed, two independent candidates have also joined the fray – Institut Aminudin Baki senior lecturer Sallehudin Ab Talib, 61, and local farmer and activist Wong Seng Yee, 40.
After announcing his intention to contest the seat days before, myPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas made his way to the nomination centre with about 50 supporters, only to announce his withdrawal.
He instead pledged his support for Pakatan and Manogaran.
“I am a supporter of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“I will be openly and aggressively supporting Pakatan Harapan’s candidate,” he said.
Kayveas, who had long lobbied to be fielded in Cameron Highlands, expressed his disappointment at Barisan’s leadership for snubbing him twice, the first in last year’s 14th General Election.
The nomination process kicked off amid a festive air as supporters of Barisan and Pakatan gathered before 8am at different locations in Tanah Rata, all clad in their party colours, as they chanted slogans.
The 15°C morning chill did not deter supporters from coming out to join the respective parades.
Pakatan’s sea of red saw supporters marching with Manogaran from the Tanah Rata bus terminal to the nomination centre located at SMK Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Leading the march were Pakatan leaders – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu.
Over at the Barisan side, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who was carrying out the duties of the president, and Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail led the charge as they strode with Ramli to file his nomination papers.
A good number of MCA members, led by MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, also showed up in support of Ramli, chanting “check and balance” as their battle cry.
Predictably, the biggest event of the day brought the roads linking the towns of Tanah Rata and Brinchang to a massive gridlock, not unlike the peak holiday seasons.
Hotels and holiday homes, too, registered full occupancy.
The festivity on the highlands is expected to continue for the next two weeks until polling on Jan 26.
The Cameron Highlands by-election was called after the Election Court declared Sivarraajh’s win void, following evidence of corruption during the GE14 campaign.
In that five-cornerd fight, Sivarraajh won with 10,307 votes while Manogaran polled 9,710. The rest were PAS’ Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud (3,587), PSM’s B. Suresh Kumar (680) and Mohd Tahir Kassim of Berjasa (81).