Will KL remain Pakatan’s stronghold?

POSTED ON APRIL 24, 2013 BY ADMIN

PETALING JAYA: In the 2008 general election, Pakatan Rakyat was invincible in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. The question both their supporters and BN are asking is, can they do it again?

Back in the 2008 general election, Pakatan Rakyat almost had a clean sweep, winning 10 out of the 11 parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Of the 13 parliamentary seats in the Federal Territories, BN only managed to win Setiawangsa, Putrajaya, and Labuan.

Parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur won by Pakatan were Bandar Tun Razak, Batu, Bukit Bintang, Cheras, Kepong, Lembah Pantai, Segambut, Seputeh, Titiwangsa and Wangsa Maju.

For the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, incumbent Selangor Menteri Besar and PKR’s Abdul Khalid Ibrahim defeated MCA’s Tan Chai Ho with a 2,515 majority while PKR’s Tian Chua defeated Gerakan’s Lim Si Pin for the Batu parliamentary seat with a 9,455 majority.

MCA’s Lee Chong Meng was defeated by DAP’s Fong Kui Lun with a 14,277 majority for the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat and in Cheras, DAP’s Tan Kok Wai beat MCA’s Jeffrey Goh Sim Ik with a 28,300 majority.

DAP’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw defeated Gerakan’s Lau Hoi Keong with a 23,848 majority for the Kepong parliamentary seat while the Lembah Pantai seat was wrested from Umno’s Shahrizat Abdul Jalil with a 2,895 majority by PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar.

DAP’s Lim Lip Eng defeated Gerakan’s Ma Woei Chyi with a 7,732 majority for the Segambut parliamentary seat while DAP’s Teresa Kok defeated MCA’s Carol Chew with a whopping 36,492 majority.

The lone Kuala Lumpur parliamentary seat won by BN was through Umno’s Zulhasnan Rafique who defeated PKR’s Ibrahim Yaakob with a 8,134 majority, however, for the Titiwangsa parliamentary seat, PAS’ Dr Lo’lo’ Mohd Ghazali managed to defeat Umno’s Aziz Jamaluddin Mohd Tahir with a 1,972 majority.

Wee Choo Keong who contested on a PKR ticket won Wangsa Maju with a slim majority of 150 votes, defeating MCA’s Yew Teong Look. Wee became an independent in 2010.

In Labuan, Umno’s Yusof Mahal defeated independent Lau Seng Kiat with a 8,457 majority. For the Putrajaya parliamentary seat, Umno’s Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor defeated PAS’ Mohammad Nor Mohamad with a majority of 2,734 votes.

Although the Pakatan coalition won 10 out of 11 of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur seats, BN is confident that other than defending the three seats won in 2008, they will manage to win more seats this coming election. These seats are, Lembah Pantai, Wangsa Maju, Bandar Tun Razak and Batu.

For the Lembah Pantai constituency, many have complained that Nurul Izzah has not been on the ground much.

Poised to wrest the seat from the incumbent MP would be Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin.

Raja Nong Chik has conveyed his intention to contest for the Lembah Pantai seat if he were to be selected by the BN as its representative.

“I am confident of winning the seat based on my service record and relationships established over the past 25 years in the area, starting from my early days as an Umno Youth member,” he said.

As for the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat, a three-cornered fight is expected to occur and although there has been talks that MCA is adamant with its choice of Yew Teong Look to contest, Umno’s Shafei Abdullah, who is also the prime minister’s political secretary, will most likely be fielded as the BN candidate.

Deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently hinted that Shafei will be fielded in the coming election.

“We want the rakyat to support whichever (BN) candidate. If Shafei becomes a candidate, okay. If any other candidate, that is also okay,” said Muhyiddin.

Shafei could find himself facing Dr Tan Kee Kwong, son of former Gerakan leader Dr Tan Chee Khoon, who is tipped to be PKR’s choice.

Incumbent independent MP Wee Choo Keong, on the other hand, is expected to defend his seat.

For the Bandar Tun Razak seat, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim will be fielded again.

Insiders claim that Najib will be fielding one of his brothers for the seat. They said that it would be the brother with the least controversy.

Suffice to say that it would not be CIMB head Nazir nor Nazim who was linked to the Altantuya case, so that leaves either Johari or Nizam to stand as a candidate for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat.

There are also talks that MCA’s Kepong Task Force head Tan Kok Eng is likely to be fielded in Bandar Tun Razak. Kok Eng’s father Tan Chai Ho held the Bandar Tun Razak seat for three consecutive terms before losing to Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Muhyiddin has also voiced his optimism in the BN wresting back the Batu parliamentary seat, based on the positive feedback from voters in the area, which is currently held by PKR vice-president Tian Chua.

He added that Batu residents have nothing to be proud of the incumbent MP who he said have made irresponsible and rude remarks about the national security force with regard to the Lahad Datu incursion.

The odds are also against Tian Chua who some widely regard as an “absentee MP”, because he is hardly seen on the ground.

Recently, PAS vice-president Husam Musa has been confirmed to contest for the Putrajaya parliamentary seat and is expected to face incumbent MP and Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

The former Salor assemblyman acknowledged that it would not be an easy task for him to take on Tengku Adnan, describing the latter as a great strategist.

For the Titiwangsa seat, there is a 50% chance for both sides of the political divide, since the passing of Dr Lo’lo’, a hard working MP who was much loved by her constituents, PAS has been struggling to maintain her legacy.

From the BN coalition, Titiwangsa BN chairman Johari Ghani is tipped to be the BN candidate for Titiwangsa.

Although some say that he has been doing a good job, others are still very melancholic about the late Dr Lo’lo’s contributions to her constituency.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang announced on April 2 that PAS Youth legal bureau chairman Ahmad Zamri Asa’ad Khuzaimi, who has been overseeing work in the constituency after Dr Lo’lo’s death, will be contesting for the seat.

The seats of Kepong, Seputeh, Bukit Bintang and Cheras will be hard for BN to penetrate as the seats have always remained with the Pakatan coalition. MCA is said to be fielding new candidates for these seats, but they expect the party to lose these seats, nonetheless.

Despite the BN’s confidence in winning more seats in Kuala Lumpur this time around, the status quo is that most urban voters have become more anti-BN in recent years. Voters in the territory are also more internet-savvy than their rural counterparts.

However, although voting trend leans more in Pakatan’s favour, the opposition also face a daunting task. Since urban voters are more political savvy, they expect greater changes.

For Pakatan to make a clean sweep, it only needs to capture Setiawangsa and retain the other seats. Based on this factor, the road to absolute domination of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur seems an effortless feat on the part of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

However, before absolute domination is achieved, the road won’t be as smooth as the BN is also gunning to wrest more seats from Pakatan.

So whether or not Pakatan will make a clean sweep this time around, it is yet to be known. However, chances are good that they will be able to win more seats in Kuala Lumpur than the BN in this coming election.