Annuar trying to make BN overconfident in Mahkota, says analyst

September 10, 2024

Annuar trying to make BN overconfident in Mahkota, says analyst

PETALING JAYA: A prediction by a PAS leader of a bigger Barisan Nasional win in the Mahkota by-election has been described by an analyst as psychological warfare aimed at causing the BN machinery to be comfortable.

National Professors Council fellow Azmi Hassan said Annuar’s open declaration reflected Perikatan Nasional’s awareness of the uphill task it faced to wrest the Johor state seat on Sept 28.

“His statement was just psychological warfare, as Annuar knows BN stands to win comfortably. He intentionally said that to make Umno lower its guard and not campaign so hard,” he told FMT.

On the other hand, Annuar may also be seeking to redeem himself after PN’s defeat in the Nenggiri poll last month, where he was the PN by-election director.

“I do believe he wants to be right, because he was partly blamed for Bersatu’s loss in Nenggiri. If Bersatu now loses the Mahkota contest, he could say that he had already pointed out it would be very difficult for Bersatu to win,” he said.

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Annuar, a former BN secretary-general, had said on Sunday that BN would retain the Mahkota seat with a bigger majority as it has mobilised both its federal and state election machinery.

He also cited the outcome of the 2022 Johor state assembly elections to back his claim, describing Mahkota as a stronghold for BN, Pakatan Harapan and the Johor government.

In the 2022 election, BN’s Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain won with a 5,166-vote majority over PH’s Taqiuddin Cheman of Amanah. PN only managed 7,614 votes, while BN and PH secured over 20,000 votes combined.

Another analyst, Ariff Aizuddin Azlan of Universiti Teknologi Mara, said Annuar’s statement reflected PN’s lack of confidence, given the turmoil facing Bersatu, which is expected to contest for the seat.

He cited Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin’s court cases and recent sedition charge involving the royalty as an example of top party leaders coming under pressure.

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However, Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said the unity government’s machinery needs to focus on regaining the support of traditional Umno voters who have since backed PN because of BN’s alliance with PH.

He cited the switch in support from Umno to PN in the six state elections last year, after BN joined in forming the unity government, and believed that this would have happened to some extent in Johor too.

“Umno needs to aggressively explain (the reasoning for the alliance with PH) because it’s often brought up by PN. Meanwhile, PH needs to ensure that the Chinese voters in Mahkota, who make up 34% of the electorate, will go out and cast their ballots for Umno-BN.”

The Mahkota state seat has 66,318 registered voters, comprising Malays (56%), Chinese (34%), Indians (8%), and others (2%).