Unraveling Pakatan’s Penanti win
By Shanon Shah, The Nut Graph
WITH Penanti, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has added yet another convincing victory to its already impressive by-election resumé. Doubtless, many are viewing Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Dr Mansor Othman's thumping 5,558 winning majority as par for the course in PR's onslaught on Malaysian politics.
Support for the opposition coalition as a whole, and PKR specifically, seems to be on the up. Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) vice-president, Rohana Ariffin, tells The Nut Graph in a phone interview, "Yes, PKR is gaining ground.
"And judging by the PR's by-election track record since March 2008, it looks like it is set to form federal government after the next general elections."
Rohana is of course referring to the PR's victories in five out of the six by-elections — Permatang Pauh, Kuala Terengganu, Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau, and now Penanti, with Batang Ai being the odd one out — held after the historic March 2008 elections. Professor Dr Norani Othman, a sociologist with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, agrees with Rohana.
In an e-mail interview with The Nut Graph, she says: "[The electorate is sending a message] so that the Barisan Nasional (BN) does not get arrogant with the presumed hegemonic power it may command over the electorate."
Referring to Mansor's impressive majority, she tells The Nut Graph, "It does reflect the extent of the electorate's desire for change or availability of electoral choices."
Nevertheless, the victory is not as sweet as it could be considering that voter turnout this time is one of the lowest in Malaysia's history. PKR elections director, Saifuddin Nasution, however, disagrees that this mars the party's victory in any way.
He tells The Nut Graph: "It is true, only 46.15% of the voters came out to vote, but of this number the overwhelming majority consisted of hardcore PKR supporters. This tallies with the support we got during the March 2008 election as well."
He says that all this means is that the hardcore BN supporters and fence-sitters stayed home. And of course, Saifuddin agrees emphatically with Norani and Rohana about perceived support for the party.
"Despite the mainstream media's negative propaganda against the PR since March 2008, it hasn't affected the rakyat's support for us."
He adds with the Penanti victory under its belt, the PR can say that support for it is "intact and increasing", and is "genuine, not seasonal".
"This victory also confirms the rakyat's rejection of the BN after their huge defeats in this constituency in March and August 2008," he says. "To lose again would have made it three times in a row for them, and would have been a strong signal to them that there is no cure for the rakyat's rejection of the BN."
Saifuddin says that although the BN did not contest in this by-election, this analysis is still valid as the coalition had, he claims, been manipulating media coverage to favour the independent candidates.
PKR information chief Latheefa Koya agrees that the BN is growing more desperate. She tells The Nut Graph, "If the BN had contested in this by-election, it would have been another 'I told you so' moment from the rakyat."
