PN trashes PH in Sungai Bakap in major blow to Anwar govt

Perikatan Nasional (PN) has retained the Sungai Bakap state seat with a bigger majority, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who put his party deputy Rafizi Ramli to lead the campaign charge.

PN, with 14,489 votes, defeated PH which got 10,222 votes - a majority of 4,267 votes, double the 1,563-vote majority it received in the six-state election a year ago.

The ruling coalition's defeat comes on the back of several controversial decisions including the abolition of diesel subsidies and the move to include a company owned by US fund manager BlackRock in a consortium to manage the country's airports.

Reacting to the defeat, Rafizi said PN's gains were due to Malay voters far outnumbering Chinese and Indian voters.

"Although there was a slight shift in Malay votes, the result was largely influenced by the turnout," he said on X, as it became apparent that the government side was heading for a major defeat.

The remarks are an indirect admission that PH was rejected by the Malays, although he had earlier claimed that "data" showed increasing support from the Malays that could delivery victory for the government.

In the run-up to the by-election, PH leaders claimed that their candidate, former academic Joohari Ariffin, was better qualified than PAS's Abidin Ismail.

The government also ran an aggressive campaign dishing out development promises and ,  funds for everything from places of worship to fire stations to a market.

Anwar announced contributions of RM290,000 for nine mosques and 20 suraus in Sungai Bakap, while Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming announced RM18 million for the construction of a new fire station, the upgrade of the Bukit Panchor market and contributions for six non-Muslim houses of worship.

The by-election in Sungai Bakap was held following the death of incumbent Nor Zamri Latiff.

Malay voters make up 59% of the 39,222 voters in Sungai Bakap, which is part of the Nibong Tebal federal constituency represented by Education Minister Fadhlina Siddiq. Chinese voters make up 22.5% and Indians 17.4%.

Today's by-election result was expected by observers, many of whom pointed to voters' negative perceptions of Rafizi, the diesel price hike and the impending petrol price hike, as well as the BlackRock controversy.

PH's election campaign got off to a bad start when Rafizi, speaking at the launch of the coalition's campaign machinery last month, got into an argument with a man who questioned the fuel price hike.

Rafizi's explanation as to why PH could not honour its election promise to lower fuel prices was challenged by former Umno man Isham Jalil, who disputed the economy minister's facts and figures in clips that went viral on social media.