3-way split in Malay vote a challenge in Kuantan, says Fuziah

While the Malay vote in Kuantan could be a toss-up, Pakatan Harapan’s Fuziah Salleh is banking on non-Malay votes to help retain the seat. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

PKR’s Fuziah Salleh says retaining the Kuantan parliamentary seat has been made more challenging after Barisan Nasional (BN) named a candidate from Umno instead of MCA like in previous elections.

The Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate said this would cause a three-way split in the Malay vote in the general election (GE15) with Perikatan Nasional (PN) represented by a candidate from PAS.

“There is a chance Malay voters, who make up about 70% of the constituency, will split their votes between PKR, Umno and PAS,” she told FMT.

Fuziah, a former deputy religious affairs minister, also claimed that PN was attracting a select group of people, with their supporters having a “very rigid mindset”.

“The more extreme they become, the smaller their voter segment will be. They are playing with the public’s emotions by using racial and religious sentiments. Those on the fence will move away,” she said.

In the 2018 general election (GE14), Fuziah defeated PAS’ Sulaiman Md Derus with a majority of 8,111 votes. This time she is up against Abu Hamid Nazahar (BN), Wan Razali Wan Nor (PN) and Anuar Tajuddin (Pejuang).

However, Fuziah said despite a three-way split in votes between the major coalitions, all was not lost for her as Chinese voters were more likely to cast their vote for PH. Chinese make up 26% of the voters in Kuantan.

“I think the prospect of PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man as a candidate for Pahang MB, which they announced recently, terrifies Chinese voters,” she said.

Fuziah called Pahang the “last bastion” for BN as the state had been the coalition’s stronghold for over 60 years.

“But PH has already established itself in Kuantan, Temerloh and Bentong, so I believe we can retain these constituencies,” she said.

The three-term Kuantan MP said there was no room for any mistakes in GE15, adding that she was concerned over the “dirty tactics” that her opponents were likely to use against her in their campaign.

“My opponents are using Lynas (which operates the world’s largest single rare earths processing plant outside Kuantan) as an issue in their negative campaign against me.

“I have offered to have an open debate on it but they did not respond. So, moving forward we should campaign in a mature way,” Fuziah said.

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3-way split in Malay vote a challenge in Kuantan, says Fuziah

Three-term MP Fuziah Salleh says retaining the seat will be tougher with Barisan Nasional putting up a candidate from Umno instead of MCA like in previous polls.