KUALA TERENGGANU: When he had to tell his party mates that they would now have to work with “the enemy”, Kuala Terengganu Umno Youth chief Salahuddin Mustapa was a worried man.
DAP, after all, had been Umno’s favourite bogeyman in every election since Merdeka. This time, both parties had to put aside their painful history and work together under the unity pact.
Salahuddin, however, was pleasantly surprised.
“I was very surprised by DAP’s commitment. They gave their 100% to campaigning for our candidate in Bandar,” said Salahuddin, referring to Armi Izan Mohd who is contesting the Bandar hot seat in the state capital.
Bandar was captured by PAS, which is now in the Perikatan Nasional coalition, in the 2018 election.
With a 36% non-Malay vote bank, it is possible that the seat could fall to the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional alliance. DAP is part of the Pakatan coalition.
“One vital factor is whether enough of Bandar’s non-Malay voters, many of whom work outside Terengganu, return to vote,” Salahuddin said.
Many politicians and analysts also agree that non-Malay turnout is among the three factors that will seal the fate of this oil-rich state.
The other two factors are the support level of voters under 25 and whether Barisan’s traditional supporters will be able to accept the cooperation with Pakatan.
Terengganu Umno leader Zamri Awang Hitam estimates that between 20% and 30% of the party’s hardcore supporters, especially those aged 60 years and above, are still in two minds.
“They have been so used to seeing either a Barisan or PAS logo on the ballot paper. They struggle to accept a Pakatan candidate even though we explain that we are with Pakatan,” said Zamri, the party’s coordinator for the Batu Buruk seat.
“Our push is to reach as many of these undecided voters as we can in the last few days,” said Zamri, who is also the campaign manager for Pakatan candidate Azan Ismail who is contesting the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat.
The election court had last month nullified PAS’ 15th General Election victory in Kuala Terengganu due to elements of corruption during the polls.
The Kuala Terengganu by-election is being held concurrently with the state polls.
“We are also calling up our outstation voters to come back and vote,” Zamri said.
Tan Poh Kok of Terengganu DAP estimates that there are about 3,000 Chinese voters working outside the state, mostly in the Klang Valley.
“We have called almost all of them, asking them to return. Most have said yes,” said Tan, the state’s party vice-chairman.
An independent NGO, Al-Azhar Care, is offering free bus rides for Terengganu voters to return. So far, between 2,500 and 3,000 people have registered.
Most are from the Klang Valley.
It is not just Pakatan-Barisan; their rival Perikatan is also pulling out all stops to ensure voters come home.
Terengganu PAS election director Ariffin Deraman thinks the various initiatives from all coalitions could lead to 80% of outstation voters returning.
He is confident that Perikatan will be able to retain the wide support it received from voters under 25, who make up about 30% of the voters in any given seat.This age group, many of whom voted for the first time in GE15, is said to be responsible for Perikatan’s massive gains in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Pahang.
“I believe we can count on their support again,” said Ariffin.
