Fierce battle expected at Tenang
By Lim Mun Fah, MySinChew
With the recent death of Tenang state assembly member Datuk Sulaiman Taha, the stage is set for the country’s 14th by-election since the March 2008 general election, and the first by-election in Johor.
Tenang has always been a stronghold of the Barisan Nasional (BN), and has never fallen into the hands of the opposition. But the impending by-election may see a possible change, with the alternative coalition Pakatan Rakyat posing a real threat to the BN.
Tenang is a mixed constituency. According to the latest voter register in June this year, the number of voters in Tenang has increased to 14,592. The number of voters has only increased by 81 since the 2008 general election, but the number of Malay voters has reduced by 146, while there is an increase of 116 Chinese voters. The number of Indian voters and that of other races has increased by 148. The result of the shift means that, the proportion of Malay voters has dropped to 48.26%, a decrease of 1.4%, while the non-Malay voters have increased to 51.74%, an increase of 1.4%.
During the 2004 general election, the BN won with a majority of 5,517 votes, but the majority dropped sharply during the 2008 general election by 3,025, meaning that the BN only managed to win by a 2,492-vote majority. This means, that the alternative coalition only needs a 1,247-vote majority this time to win the seat.
Tenang is a remote rural village under the jurisdiction of the Segamat district of Johor. A sensational case of a python swallowing a man happened here a few years ago. It is one of the two state constituencies under the Labis constituency, the other being Bekok.
Both the Labis parliamentary constituency and the Bekok state constituency are held by the MCA. The current Labis MP is Chua Tee Yong, the son of MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was its former MP.
