KUALA LUMPUR: Local issues are expected to take centre stage in the Cameron Highlands by-election campaigning next month, as well as national-level issues such as cost of living and the rising price of goods.
Political analysts believe that the by-election will also serve as a gauge to measure Pakatan Harapan’s popularity level, six months after taking helm of the country’ administration. It will also be a way to assess Barisan Nasional’s standing following the raft of changes including leadership issues affecting the once-powerful coalition.
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) political analyst, Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian, believes that Cameron Highlands voters will be drawn to local issues such as land encroachment, foreign workers, land ownership, traffic congestion as well as environmental issues.
He said, based on previous by-elections, local issues will be the priority. However, national issues will still be of note as the Cameron Highlands by-election will be taking place in a BN-held state.
“The clash between the state and Federal administration will be there for all to see in this by-election, as Cameron Highlands is within one of two BN states.
“For BN, this by-election will test its standing, whether it continues to be accepted in the state. It will also be a trial by fire for (acting Barisan Nasional president) Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan in squaring up to the might of the Federal government,” he said.
The Election Commission has set Jan 12 for nomination, and Jan 26 as voting day.
The Cameron Highlands seat fell vacant after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the win by MIC vice-president Datuk C Sivarraajh in the 14th general election was invalid due to corruption.
Sivamurugan said BN’s biggest challenge is who they plan to nominate as candidate, whether they plan to retain Sivarraajh or otherwise.
Should Sivarraajh be retained, his performance will be “put on trial” throughout the campaign.
PH’s challenge, meanwhile, is to manage the issues which will inevitably be raised, such as its performance to date, its ability to meet its manifesto promises, and tackling issues such as the rising cost of living.
“The way I see it, the advantage is with the BN candidate given that it looks to be a straight fight. Pas has already said it will sit this out and based on previous by-elections post-GE14, Pas will be helping the BN campaign.
“PH, however, is the ruling government and thus has many things in its favour,” he said.
Meanwhile, Darul Ehsan Institute senior manager of research, Khairul Ariffin Mohd Munir, said the main challenge for both parties is on the selection of candidates.
For BN, he said, there appears to be a technical issue on whether it can nominate its former candidate. He said there is a strong possibility that BN will nominate Sivarraajh as although Cameron Highlands voters are predominantly Malay, it is widely regarded as an Indian area.
“However, it is interesting to note that in GE14, despite Cameron Highlands being known as an ‘Indian seat’, the deciding voters appear to be the Orang Asli community, who form 23.6 per cent of the voters.
“PH voters will cast their votes for the government, regardless of whether they are Malay, Chinese, Indian or Orang Asli. I foresee a split among BN’s Indian and Chinese voters given the leadership issue plaguing the coalition, including MCA’s declaration that it not only wishes to remain in BN.”