Pakatan targets BN’s Malacca fortress, sure of more seats
Amin Iskandar, The Malaysian Insider
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is confident of winning at least four more state seats in Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Malacca fortress, and also the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in the next elections, if it can resolve seat allocation among its three component parties, sources say.
The Malaysian Insider understands PR’s winnable state seats are Duyong, Klebang, Paya Rumput and Machap.
PR’s DAP now holds five of the 28 seats in the state assembly. Previously, it was only seen that PR had the upper hand in Penang and Selangor.
“DAP will contest the Duyong and Klebang state seats while PKR will name candidates for Paya Rumput and Machap,” said a PR source.
PKR is also confident of snagging the Bukit Katil federal seat from BN, a source said, noting that the DAP holds the sole federal seat of Kota Melaka in the state.
Angkatan Muda Keadilan (AMK) chief Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin (picture), who is from Malacca, has been tasked with winning the Bukit Katil seat. He lost the Dungun parliamentary seat in the 2008 general election.
“Shamsul has gone to the ground around Bukit Katil for the last two years and could do well as he is also a national leader,” the source said.
A PKR source said the party can contest more seats if coalition partner PAS would give up the seats that are not considered “winnable” by the Islamist party.
“PAS has to be generous; they have contested in Malacca since the first polls but have yet to win anything,” the source told The Malaysian Insider.
The DAP, PAS and PKR form PR, which bloodied BN’s nose in Election 2008 when the ruling coalition lost four more states and the customary two-thirds parliamentary majority. PR is confident of winning more state and federal seats in the coming elections, saying it has selected a number of young candidates to fight their opponents from BN.
It is learnt that PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub will also lead the drive to reinforce the coalition’s decision to win a majority of state and federal seats.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is now scheduled to call elections only next year, after skipping several recommended dates over the past two years. He has expressed confidence of also winning 14 states with a two-thirds majority.
