Candidates to file papers today

Multi-cornered fight anticipated

PETALING JAYA: Candidates for the Semenyih by-election will file their nomination papers today and a multi-cornered fight is anticipated. Political analysts are predicting that Pakatan Harapan will retain the seat in a close battle.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Takiyuddin Ismail of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, however, said Pakatan would have to go beyond promising development plans to appeal to the largely urban electorate.

“Semenyih can be considered an urban and semi-urban constituency. The presence of several higher education institutions around the constituency has contributed to a large number of sophisticated voters,” he said.

Dr Takiyuddin said the main demands of Semenyih voters would centre on development plans but it would be hard for Pakatan to capture votes based only on such issues.

“As with any other by-election, typical local demands in Semenyih would revolve around development and facilities.

“However, it will be hard for Pakatan to fulfil these demands in a current political atmosphere that views developmental politics as outdated and that it goes against the moral of elections,” he said.

He said Pakatan might have its work cut out for it in challenging Barisan for the Malay votes, which represent nearly 70% of the constituents.

“On paper, Pakatan seems to have a high chance to preserve its victory. But the question is whether Pakatan can maintain its over 9,000 majority in last year’s general election, in the wake of Malay-Muslim voters who are becoming more and more disillusioned with Pakatan?” he said.

He expects PAS to sit out of the election and with Barisan’s victory in Cameron Highlands, he forecast that Pakatan would see a significant drop in its majority.

Universiti Sains Malaysia political science lecturer Dr Azmil Tayeb said the by-election would be a close one, especially if there appears to be shifts in the Malay supporters’ sentiments towards the ruling coalition.

“Even though in the last election, Pakatan won by quite a sizable margin, this time around it will be closely fought.

“The Malay support Pakatan received in the last election was already tenuous. This time, the dynamics are different especially as Umno and PAS are combining forces,” he said.

However, he said it was still early to tell if the PAS grassroots would indeed throw their weight behind Umno.

There are 53,257 registered voters in Semenyih with the Malays making up 67.7%, Chinese (17.7%), Indian (13.7%), Sabahans and Sarawakians (0.5%), orang asli (0.5%) and others (0.8%).

The Semenyih by-election was called following the death of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia assemblyman Bakhtiar Mohd Nor on Jan 11.

Bakhtiar had garnered 23,428 votes against the then incumbent Datuk Johan Abdul Aziz of Barisan who got 14,464 votes.

PAS candidate Mad Shahmiour Mat Kosim received 6,966 votes while PSM’s S. Arutchelvan obtained 1,293 votes.

Early voting will be held on Feb 26 and polling on March 2.