by: Jae Senn
TANAH RATA: More Chinese and Orang Asli voted for Barisan Nasional in Cameron Highlands than any other poll conducted in the Parliamentary district since the 2008 general election.
In what was deemed by Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan as an opportunity for Malaysians to wipe Barisan off the electoral ballot once and for all, the Cameron Highlands by election saw Barisan candidate Ramli Mohd Noor bagging an easy win against the DAP’s M Manogaran, tipped to have been the favourite among the Aslis and the Chinese.
Ramli outpaced Manogaran from the onset, with unofficial results released at 7 pm indicating that the BN candidate had garnered 11, 320 votes, close to half of the 22,000-odd voters that turned out to cast ballots.
Ramli’s 3,238 majority proves once and for all that Sivaraajh’s victory in May 2018 had nothing to do with money politicking as claimed by Lim Kit Siang and his DAP.
On the 30thof November 2018, Barisan Nasional’s victory in the Pahang district was nullified when the Election Court found elements of corruption during the campaign period.
Sivarraajh later initiated a judicial review to challenge an EC decision that prohibited him from contesting in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
The move was seen as a clear attempt by the DAP controlled Government of Malaysia (GoM) to use Cameron Highlands as platform to seek vindication following claims that its failure to keep Pakatan’s pre-electoral promises would cost the coalition dearly in polls.
Lim Kit Siang is believed to have picked Cameron Highlands as the seat his DAP would rob from BN as the district was dense with local aborigines, a group the senior Lim spent years defending in the late eighties and early nineties.
Meanwhile, political blogger-turned-activist Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen, when met in Ringlet, congratulated Barisan’s Ramli on his victory and expressed hope that the victory would bring closure to BN following the DAP’s attempt to rob the parliamentary seat.
Rithaudeen, however, advised Barisan not to let the victory get to its head and to focus on the upcoming Semenyih by-election.
“Cameron Highlands is good news, granted.
“But to put all your faith in the Cameron basket may be recklessly foolish, as the key to an uprising is to build on momentum, not impulse.
“Quit all the make-belief rhetoric on the victory being due to this or that like in the old days and spend some money conducting a thorough post moterm and surveys to gain feedback.
“That feedback is what you need to prepare yourselves for Semenyih and any other by-election that may follow.
“Learn from Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar. Learn not to assume that a voter swing in a by-election translates to a swing nationwide,” he said.
Rithaudeen had set up a team in Ringlet to monitor the election outcome.
