Rantau - Do or Die for Mohd Hasan

MM Online - Future of parties and politicians may pivot on Rantau (extracts)

Dr Streram & Mohd Hasan 

PH leader and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) strategist Datuk Rais Hussin said that PH has failed to learn from their twin losses in Semenyih and Cameron Highlands, or to take heed of the urgent need to explain to voters about why some manifesto promises have yet to be delivered.

Rais Hussin 

He lamented that till today, PH has yet to improve on its communication strategy and has instead allowed some ministers to make silly remarks about “flying cars”, in an apparent jibe at Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof’s recent announcement that Malaysia will develop a flying car.

drive-fly to learn? 

“Rantau is going to be tough for PH, a 50-50 chance. Recent election results do not favour PH. People on the ground have not felt the positive effects of our policies.

“People need to be convinced and we have yet to establish a manifesto committee. In Semenyih, when I talked to people. they say ‘we have trouble putting food on the table but you are talking about piring terbang’,” he told Malay Mail.

Rais added that he was not surprised PH lost Semenyih because the coalition lacked a proper narrative, and still has not found one.

“When we are not doing enough, the opposition’s narrative becomes the dominant narrative,” he said.

"New" Malaysia - Freedom of Information & speech

Rais Hussin is the Parti Pribumi's strategist. He might have been 'down-playing' Dr Streram's chances of winning Rantau, which BTW I think the good doctor has a good chance of doing so.

Malaysian politics has always and will continue to be racial at its core, thus with 27% Indians and a hefty 19% Chinese in that state constituency, the nons may be the crucial element to tip the by-election scale towards Dr Streram. Now, all PKR needs to do for its candidate is to garner just 5% Malay votes which surely and on theoretical logic, it can.

Ethnic breakdown of Rantau's electorate as of 2018^[6]

  Malay (54%)

  Chinese (19%)

  Indian (27%)

  East Malaysian Bumiputeras(0%)

  Other ethnicities (1%)

But Dr Streram faces 3 obstacles, namely:

(a) I am sure the Indians in Rantau will troop out in droves and most likely vote for Dr Streram, but the PKR candidate may face the Curse of Election-Day-Mahjong due to disenchantment with Pakatan Manifesto which has been Mafulat-ised kaukau by Mahathir,

(b) Mohd Hasan has been a popular 3-term MB in Negeri Sembilan, even to the nons,

(c) Dr Streram has recently been smeared by friendly fire about allegedly his personal financial standing. Though thus far there is no concrete evidence to support that naughty smearing, most Malaysians prefer to believe in bullshit rather than evidential matters.

But Rais Hussin is nonetheless correct, that the Rantau by-election outcome has a far greater effect than the mere election of its ADUN. It will indicate how the voters NOW view Pakatan versus BN.

saya pun salah

bila cocok (sesuai)

wakakaka 

For Mohd Hasan, UMNO's acting president, it will be crucial to his future role in mainstream politics. He has to win to continue to be relevant or he'll become a footnote in Malaysian political history.

A win for Dr Streram will also look good for Anwar Ibrahim, and probably to the disgust of the Dwarfs, wakakaka. 

The other lesser consequence is the role of Mahathir's favourite electorate composition in GE15, to wit, his 65:35 racial ratio, which showed his uncertainty (and lack of confidence) with the Malay Heartland, forcing him to ultimately rely on voters he wished he didn't need to, wakakaka.