JOHOR BARU: The Chinese voter turnout in the recent Mahkota by-election was close to 50% and not 35% as claimed by some, says Liew Chin Tong.
The Johor DAP chairman noted that much had been said about voter turnout in the Sept 28 Johor state by-election, especially on the turnout rate of each ethnic group.
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“Research hub Institut Darul Ehsan pored over the turnout rate at all polling stations and... the turnout rate according to its study was 61% for Malay voters, followed by the Chinese at 49% and Indians at 48%.
"This rate estimated by the institute was almost the same as the (breakdown) for the Johor election in March 2022,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 1).
As examples, Liew cited the Kampong Melayu 1 polling station, which has 95.74% Malay voters, and the Bandar Tengah station which comprises 81% Chinese voters.
He said the Kampong Melayu 1 station had a voter turnout of 61% while the rate for Bandar Tengah was 49%.
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Liew said that in Bandar Tengah, Barisan Nasional candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah obtained an average of 90% of the votes in each of the six voting streams.
“Looking through all polling streams regardless of ethnicity, the last two or three streams in each polling station had a lower turnout. (This is because) most younger Kluang voters work out of town, many in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
“Awareness among younger voters was insufficient.
"I met some young voters who were unaware that they are eligible to vote through automatic voter registration,” he said.
He added that the Pakatan Harapan ground campaign team, led by Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, knew that they were in for a difficult campaign owing to various factors such as prevailing happiness over a rift between certain leaders of different unity government parties.
Liew was referring to the conflict between Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok over the halal certification issue.
Liew added that nonetheless, they were confident that their efforts could encourage at least 50% of Chinese voters to show up on polling day.
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“I also cautioned those who wished for a higher Chinese turnout that even on the rosiest day, the figure would not exceed 55%.
“We were able to convince voters that a vote for Syed Hussien was a vote for the leadership of Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, as well as for the unity government led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he added.
“The most salient point of the Mahkota by-election was that the Barisan candidate won all 121 polling streams in the 18 polling stations,” he said.
Eight polling stations, namely Kampung Tengah, Taman Lian Seng, Haji Manan, Bandar Tengah, Taman Ilham, Taman Kerjasama, Taman Suria and Indah Jaya, saw overwhelming votes for Pakatan Harapan in the March 2022 state elections.
In last Saturday’s by-election, Syed Hussien won by a landslide in those stations, which contributed to Barisan's resounding victory, Liew added.
“This is the vote transferability I spoke about previously, as a result of intense campaigning and persuasion of Pakatan’s voter base.
“More importantly, almost all Pakatan core supporters, regardless of ethnicity, gave their full support to Barisan in this by-election,” he said.
Syed Hussien received 27,995 votes, which gave him a thumping majority of 20,648 over Perikatan Nasional's Mohamad Haizan Jaafar, with 7,347.
