Who do you think is the clear choice for Batu?

 

Photo credit: The Sun

            Siti Kassim may think that she has a good chance to win in the Batu Constituency but, although well-known to both the Chinese and Indian community, Siti's reputation with the Malay-Muslim electorate is anything but encouraging. 

            Cleopatra's reputation may win her some votes, but not strong enough to win the seat. Her engagement with the community before GE15 is what people will gauge. 

            The same goes with the other Independents. They are neither here nor there. In fact, they are `toads' that likely to jump from one coalition to another compared to the political frogs, who are now controlled by the Anti-Hopping Law. (click on the toad to read)

            Tian Chua's return as another Independent may garner some votes from either Pakatan Harapan (PH) supporters or those who have known him; however, with Chua having been out of sight for the past one term, it will take him efforts to gain the momentum. 

            In fact, Chua should realise that, the moment he is out of the Reformasi movement, he is no longer seen as he was in the past.

            Currently, the 'battle' is between those who support Zahid Hamidi as Prime Minister and supporters of PH who want the mandate to be returned to PH and its poster boy, Anwar Ibrahim. 

            Anwar has been consistently the past 25 years to be the Prime Minister designate for the Reformasi movement. He has been under heavy artillery attack for many years now. Will this election be his jubilee year? 

Public Sentiments against BN Still Very Strong

            The public sentiment against Umno is still very strong, especially since its president Zahid Hamidi forced the general election upon all Malaysians. 

            Even within Umno itself, many are unhappy with Zahid's list of candidates. Eight of
the politicians linked to Umno vice president Ismail Sabri Yaakob have been dropped. 

            Instead, a rabble rouser has been picked to contest in a parliamentary constituency. Malaysians generally reject politics of intimidation. 

            It is, therefore, hard for anyone representing a party that has been rejected by Batu constituency to still give Barisan Nasional candidate, Kohilan Pillay.  

            If Gerakan representative Dominic Lau had faced an uphill battle (garnering only  21.79 % of the votes in 2018) against a younger candidate like Prabakaran Parameswaran (60.70%), it is unlikely that Kohilan from MIC would stand a chance against Prabakaran. 

               So, for now, and I may be wrong, the clear choice of the Batu constituents is Prabakaran.