KUALA TERENGGANU, May 8 – It is immediately back to the grindstone for Barisan Nasional (BN) in Terengganu when they narrowly won in the 13th general election – four Parliamentary seats out of eight, and 17 state seats out of 32.
The state BN’s success in ensuring prolific development in Terengganu could not be denied. However, the winds of change – attitude of young voters, presence of outside voters and the shift by Chinese voters to the opposition – were issues yet to be unravelled.
Placing ‘recycled’ candidates in the Batu Buruk, Cukai and Bukit Payung state seats had backfired as the voters had rejected them while the outcome was favourable in Kuala Berang. The voters also supported BN’s new candidates who were placed in semi-urban areas but the move failed in town areas due to the drastic change in the voters’ taste this time. The problem of protest votes must also be looked into when the number of
protest votes were higher than the majority as in the Kuala Nerus Parliamentary area.
It recorded 770 protest votes compared to the 610 majority won by PAS candidate Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali. State BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Said conceded the target of 28 state
seats did not materialise but BN still received the trust of the people to rule the state. “God willing, in this situation we can still rule with a simple majority. We have done all that is demanded by the people, we do not know what the young people actually desired. Outside voters also influenced the result this time,” he said.
In 2008, Terengganu BN only lost eight of the 32 state seats and one of the eight parliamentary seats. The Kuala Terengganu Parliamentary seat was lost to PAS in a by-election in 2009.
– BERNAMA
