After Melaka, can PN sway army votes in Johor, too?

At the Melaka state election in November last year, Perikatan Nasional (PN) pulled off a surprise win in the state seat of Sungai Udang, home to a sizeable number of army voters and a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold.

The loss caught BN off guard as the Terendak and Sungai Udang army camps combined had meant a significant number of votes from army personnel and their spouses.

Now, less than a week before the state election in Johor, it remains to be seen if PN can pull off the same trick again.

Today, just over 22,500 voters comprising army and police personnel and their spouses will head to polling centres in the state for early voting.

A source at an army camp in Kluang spoke of close ties between the officers and military personnel, who often discuss which political party to support.

The military officer who asked to be known only as Z has served in the state for more than 11 years now and closely monitors his members’ activities including their political chats.

So far, he said, there were no winds of change, giving the impression that the army camps in Johor remain behind PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin.

“Colleagues at the police contingent headquarters also say the same,” he told MalaysiaNow.

“We civil servants remember all the help that Muhyiddin’s government gave us during the battle against Covid-19.”

MalaysiaNow previously reported that Muhyiddin’s popularity as former prime minister had contributed greatly towards bagging the army votes for PN’s candidates in Melaka.

Among others, he had facilitated cash aid and a moratorium on loan repayments at the peak of the Covid-19 crisis.

A source in the Johor Bar Council said the body had agreed to support PN in order to defend Muhyiddin who was ousted as prime minister by the Umno court cluster.

The source said Muhyiddin appeared to be the best option in a political game by leaders embroiled in corruption.

“We have agreed to support him here,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia meanwhile said it was possible that PN could sway the army votes in a state election once again, as Muhyiddin during his time as prime minister had looked after the interests of civil servants.

Citing PN’s many initiatives, particularly in terms of financial aid, he said this was how the coalition had won over the army camps in Melaka.

“Compare this to BN, where many of the leaders are heavily involved in corruption,” he said.