Remember me: Joohari handing out a flyer during a walkabout at Taman Pekatra Indah in Nibong Tebal. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
NIBONG TEBAL: Even though it lost a friendly football match to Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional is still upbeat about its chances in the Sungai Bakap by-election this Saturday.
With the off-field battle starting its final stretch yesterday, the “green wave” is the favourite to win, said Penang PAS deputy youth chief Muhd Hafiz Alias.
Besides suffering from water woes, many voters in the constituency are also upset over the decision to restructure diesel subsidies as they feel that it would raise the price of goods along the supply chain, he said.
“We have a slight edge based on feedback on the ground. Many want to vote against Pakatan to protest the policy of the unity government,” he said, referring to Pakatan being part of the unity government alliance.
“In the rural areas of Sungai Bakap, we found discontent among villagers about the high cost of living and the diesel subsidy rationalisation.
“This includes Umno supporters,” Muhd Hafiz said, adding that some on the ground had even predicted that Perikatan could win with a bigger majority.
He said their election machinery had engaged more than 80% of all voters in the constituency.
However, he said a lower voter turnout could hurt their chances of winning the seat, which is seeing a straight fight between Perikatan’s Abidin Ismail, 56, and Pakatan’s Dr Joohari Ariffin, 60.
The by-election is being held following the death of its incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff of PAS due to stomach inflammation in May.
On Sunday, there was a football match between Pakatan, led by Deputy Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, and Perikatan, which was captained by Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.
The match, held at Padang Awam Taman Pekatra, Simpang Ampat, ended 3-2 in Pakatan’s favour.
Penang PKR vice-chairman Fahmi Zainol said the party has been going house to house in the final leg of the campaign period.
“Our focus is face-to-face meetings with voters.
“We want to explain certain issues which we believe could have been ‘manipulated’ by certain quarters.
“Most importantly, they must come out to vote,” Fahmi said, adding that the party was facing an uphill battle in rural areas where the majority of the voters are Malays.
Universiti Sains Malaysia social sciences senior lecturer Dr Razlini Mohd Ramli said whoever wins the seat should address local issues such as water woes, flooding, a lack of development and education.
“They need to convey the right information to the voters, and correct any misconceptions and sentiments that have been played up during the campaign,” she said.
She said Pakatan should “market” the strong academic credentials of its candidate, while for Perikatan, it needed to show that the coalition was not Malay-centric.
A total of 39,279 people are eligible to vote in the by-election where Malays make up the majority of voters at 59.36%, followed by Chinese (22.54%), Indians (17.39%) and others (0.71%).
In the Penang state election last August, Perikatan’s Nor Zamri defeated Pakatan’s Nurhidayah Che Rose by more than 1,500 votes.
