The Umno Veterans Club today expressed concern over the low turnout of Chinese voters during the Sungai Bakap by-election yesterday, after Perikatan Nasional (PN) won the seat.
The club’s national secretary Datuk Mustapha Yaakub highlighted that only 47 per cent of Chinese voters turned out to vote at the polls yesterday.
It was evident as only 47 per cent of Chinese voters turned out to vote.
The lack of real reforms led to low turnouts among Chinese voters in Sungai Bakap, said Prof James Chin, Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania.
“Not only the Chinese, but non-Malays in general are quite disappointed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has not brought any real reforms,” he told Harapan Daily.
He also noted that the Chinese community is particularly upset with the government’s removal of subsidies.
“The other big issue among the Chinese is that people are really angry with the government for taking away the subsidies.
“And a lot of Chinese businesses are actually affected quite badly,” he said, citing the transportation and logistics industry as examples.
Chin also highlighted economic factors influencing the by-election.
“People just think that the economy is not doing well, and if the economy is not doing well, the most affected will be the non-Malays, because Malays have access to government subsidies, and Chinese and Indians do not,” he said.
“So all this makes the Chinese very unhappy, and since they have no choice but to support Pakatan, the best way to show their unhappiness is to stay at home,” he added.
He also mentioned that people do not take state by-elections seriously.
“I think another issue is that by-elections are a bit funny business because people know they are not going to change the government. So people take a more relaxed attitude towards by-elections,” he said.
Perikatan Nasional secured victory in the Sungai Bakap by-election yesterday, with their candidate Abidin Ismail winning by a substantial margin of 4,267 votes over PH candidate Dr. Joohari Ariffin.
The by-election was triggered by the passing of PAS assemblyman Nor Zamri Latiff, who also served as the Nibong Tebal PAS division chief.
Source : Harapan Daily
13% Chinese Voters Decline
A decline of between 10% and 13% in turnout among Chinese and Indian voters was a factor in Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) loss in the Sungai Bakap state by-election on Saturday, said Penang PH chairman Chow Kon Yeow.
He said the lower voter turnout caused the coalition to lose a significant number of Chinese and Indian votes compared to the state election in August last year.
“The lower turnout somewhat caused us to lose up to 1,000 to 2,000 votes. We expected a 65% turnout [but that was not the case],” he told reporters at the PH by-election centre at a golf resort here on Saturday night.
Chinese Unhappy With The Unity Government
On the other hand, he said Sungai Bakap’s Chinese community were “not in the mood” to come out to vote in the by-election, particularly feeling disgruntled with the retargeting of diesel subsidies.
He added that these Chinese voters are key to deciding if PH will win. Nonetheless, he said their unhappiness with PH-BN would not push them to vote for PN’s Abidin Ismail.
“(Despite being unhappy with the unity government) most of the Chinese are not going to vote for PN. The number of them skipping the polls are likely to be as high as the last state elections.”
Based on data from the 2023 polls, Sungai Bakap comprises 59.36% Malay voters, 22.54% Chinese, 17.39% Indian, and 0.71% from other ethnicities.
Source : FMT
DAP man says dinner guests cheered by-election result
Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has lamented that guests at a dinner banquet he attended had applauded when he announced the results of the Sungai Bakap by-election, which Pakatan Harapan lost.
“I announced the Sungai Bakap by-election results, and the crowd clapped,” he said in a post on X.
He said the banquet was attended by a “few thousand” people.
His post drew some comments that Lim’s party, DAP, should consider the reaction a wake-up call, with one commenter even suggesting that the announcement should have received a standing ovation.
One X user, “Goldfish”, said the response was “loud and clear” and wondered if Lim’s DAP colleagues would start delivering their promises.
“The next election, it’s gonna be even louder and clearer.”
Lim later told Malaysiakini that the defeat was a “valuable lesson from the voters”. Asked for his response, he said it was one of self-reflection.
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