Malaysia GE 15

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Minor shuffle for Penang DAP, with CM Chow to stand in Batu Kawan

GEORGE TOWN – DAP seems to have opted to play safe in Penang despite speculation it is orchestrating “surgical changes” to its parliamentary candidate line-up in the state.  

The party’s leadership has maintained the status quo for four of the seven federal seats it holds in the state.

The four retained are R.S.N. Rayer (Jelutong), Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor), Steven Sim Chee Keong (Bukit Mertajam), and chairman Lim Guan Eng (Bagan).

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow will contest Batu Kawan on the mainland after having served as MP for Tanjong for four terms.

Lim Hui Ying, younger sister of Guan Eng, will stand in Tanjong, while Seri Delima assemblyman Syerleena Abdul Rashid will run for the Bukit Bendera federal seat.

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Hanipa dropped, Amanah to field Aiman Athirah in Sepang

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah will not be fielding its former Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin in the coming general election.

Party communications director Khalid Samad, who announced Amanah’s candidates, said it wanted to give way to new faces.

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Bersatu veep Rafiq quits party after passed over for Tangga Batu

KUALA LUMPUR – Bersatu vice-president Datuk Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen is quitting the party immediately, following his disappointment after not being selected as a 15th general election (GE15) candidate in Tangga Batu, his constituency of choice.  

At a press conference today, he lamented how his apparent contributions to the people of Tangga Batu have been left unacknowledged, with Bersatu leaders instead offering him a candidacy in ostensibly more challenging seats.

“During the earlier stages (of GE15), I was told by the top leaders of Bersatu that I will be named as the PN (Perikatan Nasional) candidate for Tangga Batu, but a few days ago they offered me three alternative seats, all of them outside of Melaka.

“One of the areas offered was the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat, where Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is set to contest.”

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In apparent U-turn, Muda now says it won’t stand in Tapah

KUALA LUMPUR – Muda has clarified that it is not fielding a candidate in the Tapah federal constituency in an apparent U-turn after its Perak chief Mutalib Uthman had earlier announced his candidacy for the seat on Facebook.

In a statement, Muda information chief Luqman Long said the seat will be left to Pakatan Harapan (PH) and that the youth-based party’s candidates will be announced by its election director Amira Aisya Abd Aziz.

In a now deleted post, Mutalib said his candidacy was a result of discussions with PH and after a statement made by PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli on the status of the Tapah and Sembrong parliamentary seats.

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Put Amanah in Jerai, DAP can’t succeed there, says Phahrolrazi

PETALING JAYA: Sacked Kedah Amanah chairman Phahrolrazi Zawawi has asked Pakatan Harapan to allow Amanah to contest the Jerai parliamentary seat as the Malay-majority electorate will have difficulty accepting a DAP candidate.

His plea came a day after DAP announced that its Kedah deputy chairman Zulhazmi Shariff would contest the seat, previously won by PAS.

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Optimism bias in GE15

Over the last couple of weeks there has been an increase in optimism about a Pakatan Harapan victory in the coming general election. This can be sensed through much of social media, where positive stories and expectations about the coming results are reiterated by users.

Many pundits now say that there is a strong possibility that PH could achieve victory. This of course resonates very well with those chat groups which are predominantly made up of members who support PH.

However, in a country where there is very limited polling, and where any polls that polling political parties undertake is kept confidential, the only real evidence there is to base any predictions on is past performance, and the potential influence of current events.

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GE15: Anwar to announce Sabah PKR candidates today, ending uncertainty

KOTA KINABALU – PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is expected to announce the party’s candidates for its allotted parliamentary seats in Sabah for the 15th general election (GE15) at the Pan Borneo Hotel Putatan near here at 4pm today. 

With its coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) set to contest in all 25 constituencies in the state, the seats are to be split between PKR, DAP, Upko and Amanah, and possibly with Muda as a partner.

Upko will be contesting five seats, and DAP seven, leaving the 13 other seats still unconfirmed. If Amanah and Muda contest in one seat each, PKR could possibly vie for 11 seats in Sabah with all its candidates to be revealed today. 

PKR won three federal seats in the last general election. They were Tawau (Datuk Christina Liew), Putatan (Awang Husaini Sahari), and Ranau (Datuk Jonathan Yasin). However, Jonathan later quit the party and joined Bersatu.

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Upko to contest 5 seats in Sabah

PENAMPANG: Upko will contest for five parliamentary seats in Sabah in the 15th general election (GE15), with outgoing party president Wilfred Madius Tangau seeking a fifth term as Tuaran MP.

Incoming president Ewon Benedick will contest for the Penampang seat while Youth wing chief Felix Joseph Saang will vie for the Beluran seat.

Deputy secretary-general Peter Jr Naintin and deputy information chief Rowindy Lawrence will contest for the Libaran and Kimanis seats, respectively.

Tangau won the Tuaran seat with a 7,624 vote majority under a Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket in the last general election (GE14) in 2018.

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I know nothing about standing in Sungai Buloh, says KJ

PUTRAJAYA: Amid talks that Khairy Jamaluddin is set to contest the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election (GE15), the former Rembau MP reiterates that he still has no idea where he will stand.

The health minister told a press conference here today he had not been given any update from Umno on what constituency he will be allotted.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said when asked about rumours that he will be fielded as the Barisan Nasional candidate for Sungai Buloh.

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Today’s Malays have lesser qualms of accepting DAP’s brand of politics

THERE seems to be a sense of ‘openness and readiness’ among the Malay community to accept DAP as opposed to ‘outright rejection’ judging by a recent post that veteran journalist and blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin recently put up on his Facebook page.

He triggered ‘unorthodox’ responses with some Malays stepping forward to acknowledge that the accusations of DAP as a racist, anti-Malay or anti-Islam party “has actually been planted by UMNO and PAS leaders from long ago to scare off the Malays”.

Kadir’s post in the form of an open statement reads: “The move by DAP to place more young Malay candidates is very interesting and welcoming. The DAP was originally a multi-racial party.”

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