Johor polls not the end of road for opposition in GE15, pundits say

SHAH ALAM - It will be an easy win for Barisan Nasional (BN) at the 15th General Elections if the opposition do not unite and present new faces, said political analyst Ibrahim Suffian.

He said Pakatan Harapan (PH) needs to put forward new faces to spark voters' interest.

PH should also touch on key issues such as inflation, governance and economic recovery if they want to garner the support of new voters.

Ibrahim, who is also the Merdeka Center director advised PKR or PH to work with Perikatan Nasional (PN) to avoid a big defeat.

“At this point, it is quite clear that PH is not able to attract Malay supporters and PN is being rejected by non-Malay voters, so they need to figure this out,” he told Sinar Daily.

He also added that the low voter turnout in the general election will decrease the opposition’s probability of winning, and they should work on ensuring higher voter turnout. The public are expected to remain cautious as they feel elections may not bring about changes to their lives, he added.

“The voters will look into two important elements, that is the change it could bring and whether politicians can overcome differences so that they can address public’s concern rather than politicians being caught in saving their own back," he said.

However, there is a possibility the opposition may join hands to strengthen their position.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaya Institute of Ethnic Studies Director, Professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said the general election may become a ‘massive nationwide festival’ as political parties are not cash strapped.

“Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once said ’Malaysian politics is money politics’ and he has demonstrated the truth of his observation in the Johor polls.

“The candidates of his new party, Pejuang, contested in 40 seats in the Johor State Election, all of whom lost their deposits of RM400,000 but they are gearing up for the next election because they have strong financial backers,” he said.

He added that the same can be said for other parties such as DAP, BN, PN and even Muda who are said to have money from donations.