In Derga New Voters Could Deny Third Term For Ph Candidate

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Kedah DAP chief Tan Kok Yew is confident the Umno grassroots will help him secure Malay votes.ALOR SETAR: Tan Kok Yew is seeking a third term as Derga assemblyman from Pakatan Harapan (PH) but this time around, winning the seat will be an uphill battle for the Kedah DAP chief.
With the implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration, Derga, which is within the now PAS-controlled Pokok Sena parliamentary constituency, has over 10,000 new Malay voters.
In the 15th general election (GE15) last November, Pokok Sena was one of 14 parliamentary seats won by Perikatan Nasional (PN) in Kedah.
Prior to GE15, Derga was already a Malay-majority seat with 60% of the voters coming from the community, followed by Chinese (35%), Indians (4%) and others (1%).
“Derga is quite a challenging seat. I hope my engagement (with the community) for the past two terms will help me score some points (among voters),” he told FMT.
Tan acknowledged that the changing demographics in Derga would prove to be a challenge based on the GE15 results, but said it was still too early to discount support for PH.
He added that he needed the support of all races in Derga, not just the Chinese and Indians who were PH’s traditional voters, but also the Malays and Siamese.
“Without the support of Malays in the area, I would not have been able to serve for two terms. Without them, I would not be here,” he said.
Tan also said he had worked with Umno grassroots in Derga before and was confident they would do their part to help secure the Malay vote for him.
Ads by KioskedOn the popularity of caretaker Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Nor, Tan said it could not be denied that the PAS leader was capable of pulling in support for PN.
However, he said, popularity alone was not enough and that voters needed to vote for candidates who were capable of serving them.
“When you cast your vote to pick a leader, you need (to pick) a person who can serve you for five years.”
The battle for Derga is a three-way contest between Tan, PN’s Amri Wahab and independent Man Basiron. - FMT

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