{"id":2902,"date":"2012-10-03T13:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T05:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2012-10-03T13:11:49","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T05:11:49","slug":"scaling-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/scaling-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaling The Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 14 parliamentary at stake, Pahang\u2019s voting direction will make or break BN\u2019s hold on the federal government. Can PR make further inroads here? The Malay electorate holds the key.<\/em><\/p>\n

Busting The Myth<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Contrary to common perception, Pahang\u2019s Malay voters have shown independent streak that has surprised even the meticulous BN\u2019s intelligentsia. According blogger Sakmongkol AK 47, Najib\u2019s close shave in the 1999 GE has resulted in him losing confidence in the UMNO-BN\u2019s intelligence gathering since then.<\/p>\n

Political awareness has arrived in Pahang, however faintly. DAP is making inroads here as it won two state seats in the last GE, its highest ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the advent of March 2008, there is increasingly more crossover acceptance from DAP and PAS\u2019s base supporters, namely the Chinese and the Malays towards the other parties. This augurs well for PR,\u201d Leong elaborates.<\/p>\n

\u201cDAP\u2019s success in penetrating the Malay constituents\u2019 acceptance is dependent upon our cooperation with PAS. In the past, it was very difficult for DAP\u2019 to reach out to the Malays due to the UMNO\u2019s successful propaganda and indoctrination in that community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the Indian community, we are confident that DAP can maintain the support level we received in the 2008 GE. PR\u2019s achievement in Selangor and Penang has helped to open their eyes as to what we can do; they are taking note of what PR is achieving.\u201d<\/p>\n

All things rural\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

As a rural state, the rural voters call the shot with the FELDA scheme voters carrying the biggest weight in Pahang. \u201cThere are 17 state assembly seats where the FELDA voters predominate or can influence the voting outcome substantially,\u201d Leong explains.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, FELDA settlements are UMNO\u2019s stronghold, an impenetrable voting bloc for opposition parties. Will the current scandal involving the listing of the FELDA settlers\u2019 plantations under Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH) affect the settlers voting trend now?<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the settlers are aware of what they have been cheated out of. In this instance we have to credit the efforts of the NGO ANAK in telling them about nooks and crannies on the listing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, many of them dare not attend opposition parties\u2019 events for fear of reprieve from the government. In addition they were also conservative on their voting choice. Now things are changing; we have had consistently sizable crowd turning out for our ceramahs in these settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPast GE result shows that it is not impossible to win in these FELDA seats. In 1999 GE, PAS managed to win four of these DUNs thanks to the anger towards Anwar\u2019s infamous black end incident. Now with the NFC cow and condo scandal in full bloom, we can see the impact it is having on the Malay psyche. We hope to capitalise on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

As many of their children are working in the urban areas, the settlers are also exposed to the alternative media news. \u201cWe are counting on their children to feed them the information on what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another crucial electoral bloc, the Orang Aslis (OA) are getting their due recognition after years of neglect. \u201cAs the state with the biggest OA population, we cannot afford to ignore the importance of their voting impact. Poverty and land ownership issues are the top concern for them. DAP is looking to prepare an OA candidate for the future, possibly even in the next GE. It is progressing well,\u201d Leong beamed.<\/p>\n

For the Indian community, it\u2019s the citizenship issue. \u201cThe overwhelming majority of those of who don\u2019t have the identification papers are deprived of employment and social mobility prospects. No ICs, no jobs; that\u2019s often the case for many of them.\u201d Will PR\u2019s constant effort in highlighting this issue awaken them and stir their imagination? Time will tell.<\/p>\n

Gauging the prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n

Macro trends aside, DAP\u2019s efforts to win the seats contested will depend on the local issues and work effort laboured. Choong is optimistic for the Raub parliamentary seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Raub, there are several issues at play here. As the Bukit Koman victims are predominantly Chinese, the Chinese voters\u2019 sentiment is with us. For the Malay voters, many are only now being aware of the danger posed by the cyanide poisoning in Bukit Koman. Our task is cut out for us – increase the Malay voters support and we can win the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the Bentong parliamentary seat, the incumbent is generally liked by the people. However with his mishandling at the health ministry, the votes will definitely increase for PR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is PR prepared? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Leong notes that the since 2008, the traditional constraints of manpower, machinery and money are not as pressing as before. \u201cIn addition, unlike BN, opposition party workers often labour on volunteerism basis. We hope to sustain this culture. However our PACAs volunteers are in still in short supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

What of the BN\u2019s counter punch, the issues being played up? Leong exudes optimism that it will not trip up PR in Pahang. \u201cTake the case of the hudud issue, it\u2019s a non-starter here. Even in the divisive 1999 GE where the Islamic state and hudud issues affected DAP\u2019s electoral performance nationally, Pahang DAP managed to perform reasonably well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PAS supporters club has done a good job in reaching out to the Chinese to explain about the real situation in Kelantan, not as vilified picture painted by MCA,\u201d Leong added.<\/p>\n

Is PR ready to become government? On paper, the sentiments points toward BN being re-elected here. However, Choong tells the supporters to be ready to assume power. \u201cNothing is impossible, post 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c In our estimation DAP may possibly deliver 7 state seats, PKR 10 seats and PAS, 10 to 12 seats. That gives a PR 27 seat, 15 BN seats scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cEven in 1999, DAP and Barisan Alternatif (BA) then were already mentally prepared to assume power at the state government level. Our cooperation with PAS has never ceased even when DAP was not in BA. This time around we are even more ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will PR run Pahang? \u201cWe have the examples of other PR run states to draft our governing policies. We will take the best and most applicable from these states to implement in Pahang.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been actively recruiting people to be ready to take positions of power at the village level, council level, district level and of course the state government,\u201d Leong elaborated.<\/p>\n

\u201cPR is gaining momentum in Pahang. It\u2019s good performance in Penang and Selangor has made it easier for us to approach the people and tell them about what we stand for and we have achieved. In addition we have good rapport and cooperation with other PR parties here in Pahang.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for DAP, before 2008 it was an issue to get enough candidates to contest all the allocated seats. Now we have a big pool of candidates to choose from. It\u2019s a different headache for us (laughs)!\u201d -The Rocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 14 parliamentary at stake, Pahang\u2019s voting direction will make or break BN\u2019s hold on the federal government. Can PR make further inroads here? The Malay electorate holds the key. Busting The Myth Contrary to common perception, Pahang\u2019s Malay voters have shown independent streak that has surprised even the meticulous BN\u2019s intelligentsia. According blogger Sakmongkol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}