State polls: Pakatan-Barisan losses due to electorate anger, says Noh Omar

KLANG: Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional’s losses in Malay-majority areas are probably due to the anger and disappointment of the electorate, says Tan Sri Noh Omar.

The former Selangor Umno chief and six-term Tanjong Karang MP said Malays are especially disappointed and angry with Umno, which they believe has strayed from its original struggles.

“Now the Malays feel that Umno is a follower, especially after teaming up with Pakatan,” he said on Monday (Aug 14).

“As far as the Malays are concerned, it is okay if the party is the Opposition.

“It must lead and not follow,” added Noh, who was sacked from Umno by party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier this year.

Pakatan and Barisan now have only one seat each out of the nine seats under the Kuala Selangor, Tanjong Karang, Sungai Besar and Sabak Bernam parliamentary constituencies.

Before the state polls, Pakatan was incumbent in five seats in the area and Barisan held three constituencies while Pejuang had one seat.

Former Jeram assemblyman Mohd Shaid Rosli said according to feedback from his former constituents, there was a lot of anger against Umno in the area.

“Only the Indians and PKR Malay supporters came out in full force to vote, while most of the Chinese remained home.

“As for the protesting Umno supporters, some stayed home and the remaining ones voted for the Perikatan Nasional candidate,” he said.

Jeram falls under the Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency.

According to Mohd Shaid, who is from Pejuang, he came to know that the Chinese did not want to vote for either Umno or Perikatan.

Jeram saw a straight fight between Umno’s Datuk Jahaya Ibrahim and Bersatu’s Datuk Harrison Hassan.

Harrison managed to beat Jahaya with a 5,398-vote majority in spite of the latter being the Kuala Selangor Umno division chief and a local resident.

“Actually, the loss was not because the voters disliked Pakatan or Jahaya. Their grouse was with Umno president Zahid Hamidi, whom they feel is running the party like it’s his personal conglomerate,” said Mohd Shaid.

He said he was told that the suspension and termination of members who dared question the party leadership did not sit well with Umno grassroots members and voters.

When contacted, Jahaya said he was clueless as to why he suffered such a big defeat in the area.

“Everything seemed fine during campaigning and so the outcome was truly unexpected. I need to calm down first before I conduct a post-mortem,” he said.

Asked if the outcome could be due to unhappiness with Umno’s top leadership, Yahya said he did not dare make such an assumption.

Selangor Wanita Umno chief Datuk Rosni Sohar said it could be because the Malay masses in the rural areas were still unclear about the unity government.

“It’s been a short while since the unity government was formed, and many do not understand how it functions,” said Rosni, the former Hulu Bernam assemblyman.

Rosni, who did not defend the seat in the recent state election, said people also did not understand that Barisan Nasional and Umno were not components of Pakatan but were instead working partners.

“The other side used religion and many other issues to campaign. The people must see what exactly the three states (Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu) the other side won offer their people,” she added.

She said none of the three could match Selangor’s programmes that covered residents from cradle to grave.

“We need to go down to the ground and explain to the people about the things that they are unclear about,” she said.