PKR leaders have acknowledged that the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) national unity campaign for the Sungai Bakap by-election lacked cohesion.
This supposedly contributed towards the rout the national unity government suffered at the hands of Perikatan Nasional (PN), even though the unity candidate Joohari Ariffin had better credentials than PN’s Abidin Ismail.
Abidin won with 4,267 votes – a near threefold increase over last year’s 1,563 – with a significant decline in Chinese and Indian voter turnout.
Penang PKR deputy chairman Datuk Muhammed Bakhtiar Wan Chik conceded the lack of cohesion could be seen as a major reason for the defeat.
He said social media had changed the campaigning game and there was room for improvement.
“We were told that some quarters were sending messages to many Chinese voters via their personal WhatsApp numbers in Sungai Bakap to boycott the election to signal protest over the removal of diesel and the water surcharges which Penang imposed.”
“We have been through ups and downs – the worst was in the 2004 (general) election where we came out with just one seat but by 2008, we came back,” the Balik Pulau MP added.
The by-election did not result in a change of leadership at the state or federal level.
Former PKR deputy secretary-general S. Raveentharan said the unity concept was new, with “old wounds” between the coalitions remaining unhealed.
This led to a lack of synergy at the grassroots level, resulting in a lacklustre campaign.
He said the lack of state PH leaders being present, including those from DAP and PKR, made voters wonder if there was indeed an election going on.
“One area noticeable was the lack of party banners and flags in the urban encirclement of Sungai Bakap. Such party material was conspicuously missing in some areas.”
Hence, it was reported that a Chinese elderly man did not even know there was a by-election in his hometown of Sungai Bakap, said Raveentharan.
“When PKR was starting out, the public will come and ask to erect our banners and flags. You can see how support has eroded now. We need to regain our momentum.”
He added that more workshops and team building exercises needed to be undertaken by PH and BN to prepare well for future election battles, starting with the Nenggiri state seat in Kelantan next month. – July 9, 2024.
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