BN must intensify efforts to retain Malay majority seats in Perak
By Salawaty Supardi
IPOH, May 1 (Bernama) -- Perak may be regarded as a 'hot' state in the 14th General Election (GE14) by
many political observers but it is not impossible for the state government under the
Barisan Nasional (BN) to retain its administration with concerted efforts.
In the GE13, BN won with a slim majority after winning 31 out of the 59 state seats, followed by DAP (18), PKR (5) and PAS (5) while the Chinese majority seats went to the opposition.
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Political Affairs, Policy and International Studies senior lecturer, Md Shukri Shuib said there was several Chinese majority parliamentary seats being categorised as 'black', including Ipoh Barat, Ipoh Timor and Batu Gajah.
As such, Md Shukri said BN needed to intensify efforts to wrest and retain its control in Malay majority seats such as Gerik, Lenggong, Pasir Salak and Bagan Datuk.
"BN's intense fights will be in the Chinese majority areas, so the BN must focus its attention on Malay majority areas to increase votes," he said when contacted by Bernama here today.
There are 24 parliamentary seats in Perak.
In addition, Md Shukri said the BN also did not take lightly the presence of PAS in Malay majority areas even though the party had split as they certainly had its own strategies.
"There is no doubt that PAS is strong in Malay majority areas. The challenge for the BN in these areas is PAS," he said.
Asked on PAS's decision not to field candidates in Chinese majority areas, Md Shukri said it clearly showed that the party was aware that these areas were difficult to penetrate.
Sharing a similar view was a political analyst from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Prof Dr Azmi Hassan who said it would be hard for PAS to penetrate or split the votes in the Chinese majority areas being dominated by DAP.
-- BERNAMA
