SEREMBAN: Pakatan Harapan (PH) needs to carry out a post-mortem to identify the actual cause of its defeat in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary by-election yesterday.
Negri Sembilan PH chairman, Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun (pix) said a review is important to ensure the party devise a more effective strategy in the Semenyih state seat by-election in Selangor on March 2.
“For me, we have to accept the decision of the people even though we knew Cameron Highlands is a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold for so long and PH had never won the constituency.
“Similarly, the defeat of PH cannot be a benchmark that the people are fed up with the party,” he said after opening the 40th Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) annual general meeting of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Kelana here today.
Aminuddin who is also PKR State Leadership Council chairman and Mentri Besar said when commenting on the victory of BN in the by-election yesterday with a majority of 3,238 votes.
Ramli garnered 12,038 votes to beat PH candidate, M. Manogaran (8,800 votes), and two independent candidates, Sallehudin Ab Talib (314 votes) and Wong Seng Yee obtained 276 votes.
In the 14th general election (GE14), Datuk C Sivarraajh of BN won the seat in a five-cornered fight with a 597-vote majority after receiving 10,307 votes while Manogaran obtained 9,710 votes.
PAS candidate, Wan Mahadir Wan Mahmud garnered 3,587 votes, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)’s B Suresh Kumar (680 votes) and Berjasa candidate, Mohd Tahir Kassim, 81 votes.
Meanwhile Umno deputy president, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan in a statement here said BN’s win yesterday proved the minority communities in Cameron Highlands especially Orang Asli knew the representative they wanted in Putrajaya.
“This is an enormous trust for BN and PAS and we will cooperate to fulfill the faith entrusted on us. We also pledge to combine efforts for the unity of the Malays and Muslims in Malaysia,” he said.
Mohamad Hasan who is carrying out the duties of the party president claimed yesterday’s victory is the re-emergence of BN.
“We will not stop until Putrajaya is in our hands again,” he said. — Bernama
