NIBONG TEBAL: The Sungai Bakap by-election result shows that there is still internal sabotage within Umno and Barisan Nasional, a political analyst said.
Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya said this was because the party has not undergone a thorough cleansing at the middle and branch grassroot levels.
"There is still internal sabotage within Umno and BN.
"This remains a thorn in the flesh," he told the New Straits Times.
PN's Abidin Ismail won 14,489 votes defeating Pakatan Harapan's Dr Joohari Ariffin who gained 10,222 votes.
Abidin led with a majority of 4,267, a higher majority compared with the state elections last August.
Awang Azman said voter sentiment still favoured PN because various external issues like BlackRock and diesel subsidy rationalisation were effectively used by the opposition during the by-election campaign.
"The unity government's rebuttals and clarifications on these issues did not reach the grassroots voters effectively."
He said the low Chinese voters' turnout could also be because they believed that the results would not change the position of the state and federal governments.
Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Malaysia's Professor Datuk Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said the by-election result showed the Chinese and Indian voters did not come out to vote.
"There could be a reason because by not coming out to vote, besides protest vote, they are also aware it benefits Pas-PN.
"PH should also study in depth why the Malay voters did not vote a good candidate," he pointed out.
While conceding defeat last night, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said there was a decrease in Chinese voters' turnout of between 10 and 13 per cent compared with the previous general and state elections.
He said this resulted in PH losing between 1,000 and 2,000 votes, which could have narrowed the vote-majority.
He said there was also a similar drop among Indian voters.