KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 – The swapping of seats among Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties is not only a strategy for the coalition but also shows solidarity in ensuring BN’s victory in the 13th general election. The willingness to sacrifice their rights and status quo for seats in any constituency between the BN components shows strong unity between Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
The strategy of changing or loaning seats made with the consensus of BN component parties also took into account factors such as demography, number of voters based on ethnicity and suitability of the area. Prof Dr Ahmad Tarmizi Talib from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) said all political parties basically want to show their respective candidates, but tolerance for the sake of BN’s victory is evident among component parties.
“This is a positive change in terms of understanding between component parties, which means they place priority on victory for the BN instead of competing to contest as candidates,” he said when contacted by Bernama here.
Ahmad Tarmizi said the highlight of the seat swapping could be seen involving MCA and Umno in Gelang Patah, Johor; Kuantan, Pahang and Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur. In addition, seat changes were also seen in Grik and Taiping, Perak, which involved Gerakan-Umno and PPP-Gerakan. In the 2004 and 2008 general elections, BN won the Gelang Patah seat through MCA candidate Tan Ah Eng, who defeated Dr Zaliha Mustafa from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
In this general election, BN will field Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman after the opposition coalition named DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang to contest in the area. The clash between two political veterans will be one to watch as it has been described as a win or die fight for their political careers.
Giving back the Kuantan and Wangsa Maju parliamentary seats to Umno after MCA contested twice in past elections is a refreshing change to the BN machinery to win back the two seats. In this general election, BN has named Datuk Dr Mohd Shafie Abdullah in Wangsa Maju and Datuk Mohamad Suffian Awang, a new face in Kuantan.
When asked if Umno tried to monopolise the number of seats, the head of Government and Civilization Studies Department, Human Ecology Faculty, said this could not be the case because all parties knew that BN’s win was priority.
Meanwhile, political observer Associate Professor Dr Samsul Adabi Mamat said swapping of parliamentary seats in Perak will not be detrimental to any component party.
He said returning the Taiping parliamentary seat to Gerakan after it was loaned to the PPP in 2004 and 2008 was a sign of understanding between the two parties to continue giving competition to opposition candidates. In the coming general election, Gerakan candidate Datuk Tan Lian Hoe, who is also the Grik incumbent, will contest in Taiping and allow Umno representative Datuk Hasbullah Osman to contest in Grik.
In 2008, the BN candidate from PPP, Datuk M Kayveas failed to defend the Taiping parliamentary seat and lost to DAP’s Nga Kor Ming by a 11,298-vote majority. In Grik, Tan defeated PAS candidate Mohd Noor Abdul Rahman with a majority of 5,573 votes after Umno made way for the party to contest there in 2008. Samsul said besides efforts to recapture Taiping, the strategy to change seats in Grik was more towards increasing the number of votes, especially among Malay voters who make up a majority in the area.
“Fielding candidates who are suited to the capacity of voters will ensure the number of votes increases,” said the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty lecturer.
BERNAMA
