PETALING JAYA – While Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) prospects appear to be promising in Malay-majority areas, can it break Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) stronghold in urban Selangor constituencies such as Damansara, Petaling Jaya, and Subang in next week’s state polls?
Zooming in on the Damansara parliamentary constituency, it is represented by DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo, who moved to the area from Puchong in the last general election.
Prior to that, its MP was Tony Pua of DAP, who won the seat with a majority of over 100,000 votes. Though he moved from Puchong, Gobind retained the seat for PH with a resounding 124,619-vote majority.
Under Damansara, there are three state seats: Kg Tunku, Bukit Lanjan, and Bandar Utama. All three were won by PH in the 2018 general election.
The incumbents of Kg Tunku and Bandar Utama, Lim Yi Wei and Jamaliah Jamaluddin, have both been retained by PH to defend their seats, while Bukit Lanjan sees Elizabeth Wong stepping aside and Pua Pei Ling named as PKR’s candidate.
PN is fielding Ruby Chin of Bersatu in Kg Tunku, while Gerakan named Aliff Taufid for Bandar Utama and Muniraa Abu Bakar for Bukit Lanjan.
According to Aliff, he only received word that he would be fielded at the last minute but expressed confidence that voters in Bandar Utama would choose him.
Checks on Aliff’s Facebook page saw some postings on his “workabouts” (walkabouts) but no schedule of what he had planned ahead available.
Apart from Jamaliah, Aliff will face Abe Lim of Muda, who has a more prominent social media presence.
While the young environmentalist is relatively new to politics, she is harnessing the power of social media to its fullest, much like her PH opponent Jamaliah.
On Facebook, Jamaliah shares her campaign schedule, making it easy for her voters to figure out where to expect her.
Senior PH leaders have put in a lot of work to convince voters in these urban areas to vote for them, and it would take more than just “workabouts” for PN to wrest these seats.
In Kg Tunku, Chin, who has 266 followers on Facebook, has not gotten around to sharing her schedule; instead, going down the same road as Aliff by posting after-photos of meeting voters.
Her opponent Yi Wei, who is no stranger to the area and is also DAP Youth’s international secretary, has a more solid presence on Facebook.
Just like Jamaliah, her social media team is on the ball with updates and schedules.
Gerakan’s Muniraa is more active on Facebook, although future schedules seem to be where PN is lacking when it comes to their social media campaigns.
Her opponent Pua appears to be behind when it comes to utilising Facebook compared to Jamaliah and Yi Wei.
Perhaps this is due to Pua’s first time being fielded as an election candidate. Previously, she served as Gombak New Village coordinator and was an aide to former Rawang assemblyman Gan Pei Nei.
If social media is to become the barometer of a candidate’s ability, PH is far ahead compared to PN.
Muda, while having a firmer grasp on social media, has much to do in other aspects, considering this is their first outing in a Selangor election.
As highlighted, PH took years to steer these urban seats away from Barisan Nasional, and the moment the coalition did, there was no turning back as its majority votes only increased.
For PN to take these seats away from PH, it would have to bring a stronger manifesto to the table.
With ties to controversial politicians such as PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and PN election director Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, it is definitely an uphill battle for PN to wiggle its way into these urban Selangor seats.
The task is made even tougher with candidates that are relatively unknown and are not using social media to their benefit. – The Vibes, August 2, 2023
