Uphill for Pakatan to capture Malacca
But inside sources are confident the bloc will win more seats than in 2008.
Zefry Dahalan, Free Malaysia Today
Pakatan Rakyat appears confident that it will win at least two parliamentary seats in Malacca in the coming election, but is not so upbeat about capturing the State Legislative Assembly.
According to Malacca PKR vice-chairman G Rajendran, support for Pakatan in Bukit Katil has been growing, making it likely for the party to wrest it from Barisan Nasional this time around and add to Pakatan’s tally of Malacca seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
Kota Melaka is currently the only parliamentary seat in the state that the opposition bloc occupies. The MP is DAP’s Sim Tong Him.
“Bukit Katil is an urban seat and the Malays here are urban Malays, and I don’t see any obstacle against us winning the seat this time,” Rajendran said.
The talk within the Malacca Pakatan fraternity is that the bloc will nominate Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, PKR Youth chief, for Bukit Katil.
In the 2004 Bukit Katil contest, Umno’s Mohd Ruddin Abdul Ghani thrashed PKR’s Khalid Jaafar with a majority exceeding 27,000. However, the majority dropped dramatically to 1,758 in 2008, when Umno’s Mohd Sirat Abu fought Khalid.
As for state seats, Pakatan currently has five, all won by DAP. It needs 15 to form the government.
Pakatan sources say there is a chance that the bloc can win 18, but that would be the maximum.
DAP sources, however, are not confident that their party can win more than eight. PAS and PKR sources say they think they can get six and four, respectively.
The fight will be tough in the 19 state seats within the parliamentary constituencies of Masjid Tanah, Alor Gajah, Jasin and Tangga Batu – all BN strongholds. If Pakatan maintains the seat distribution of 2008, PAS will contest 10 of these 19 seats, PKR seven and DAP two.
DAP sources admit that it will be hard for the party to win Kelebang and Bemban – the two seats that will probably be allocated to it – although they have not ruled out slim wins.
It will be interesting to see if PAS can cause upsets – as some of its members are speculating – in the Malay-majority seats of Lendu (75%), Kuala Linggi (72%), Teluk Mas (70%), Durian Tunggal (68%), Bukit Baru (59%) and Asahan (58%).
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Kuala Linggi, Lendu and Asahan are rural communities while Durian Tunggal and Teluk Mas are semi-urban.
In Asahan, the 1,600 voters from Felda Bukit Senggeh will play a decisive role.
For PKR, the fight will be especially challenging in Gadek (54% Malay voters), Paya Rumput (56%) and Rim (58%).
Grassroots leaders from the three opposition parties seem agreed that Pakatan is not likely to win the state. They say the best it can achieve will be to deny BN a two-thirds majority in the state assembly.
