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PH’s influence isn’t waning, says Maszlee

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The former minister attributes the coalition’s poor performance in Melaka and Sarawak to low voter turnout.

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Free Malaysia Today
Maszlee Malik says he does not expect a high voter turnout in the Johor elections because the people are ‘fed-up’ with their repeated trips to the ballot box.

PETALING JAYA:
Former education minister Maszlee Malik has dismissed talk that Pakatan Harapan’s influence is waning, saying low voter turnout was the reason for the coalition’s poor showing at the last two state elections.

Heavy defeats in last year’s Melaka and Sarawak elections have led to questions about the former ruling coalition’s popularity, especially with the Johor elections due on March 12 and a general election by May 2023.

Commenting on claims that PH’s allure among voters had diminished because of its poor performance in Melaka and Sarawak, he said such assumptions did not hold water.

“They are basing this on the results of the Sarawak and Melaka elections where voter turnout was low,” he told FMT.

Maszlee, who is a PKR member, said the low turnout at the two elections was due to “various factors”, including Covid-19 election SOPs and a general disinterest in elections at a time when Malaysians were focused on rebuilding after the economic and social fallout of the pandemic.

He said politics was now secondary to most Malaysians, with the public’s primary concern being “putting food on the table” and ensuring financial stability.

He said people were trying to make sure of their ability to pay their bills, knowing that the loan moratorium would end at the end of this month.

“If you see the comments on social media, everyone is angry with the government. Everyone is angry with BN. Everyone is angry at the rising cost of goods. Everyone is angry with the double standards in the enforcement of SOPs.

“But when there are elections, why don’t these angry people come out to vote? Like I said, they are struggling to get by.”

PH won five of the 28 seats in Melaka and two of the 82 seats in Sarawak. The voter turnout in Melaka in November was 66% and the turnout in Sarawak in December was 61%.

Maszlee said he did not expect a high voter turnout at the Johor polls. Malaysians were “fed-up” with their repeated trips to the ballot box, he added.

He is expected to contest in Layang-Layang and is rumoured to be PH’s menteri besar candidate if it wins in the elections, but he said he had not been officially notified about this.

He said his focus was on ensuring PH’s victory in the Layang-Layang and Machap constituencies, both of which are under his parliamentary constituency of Simpang Renggam.

The BN-led Johor government pushed for the elections after its majority was reduced to a solitary seat with the death of Kempas assemblyman Osman Sapian in December.

Maszlee called BN’s move “irresponsible”.

Referring to BN’s claim that it is on a resurgence, he said: “I don’t think so. BN is not responsible and is sacrificing the rakyat for its own interests.”

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