KUALA LUMPUR: A poor showing at the Johor state election has raised the stakes for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the Aug 1 Negeri Sembilan polls, say analysts.They add that PH must leverage its advantage as the incumbent state government in order to retain Negeri Sembilan, failing which pressure could pile on Anwar to call a snap general election.PH could seek to replicate Barisan Nasional's (BN) strategy that helped gain it a landslide win in Johor by focusing on its own successes and development in Negeri Sembilan under PH chief minister Aminuddin Harun, the observers also say.“Anwar Ibrahim needs to show that he can campaign effectively for a state where the incumbent chief minister is from his own party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat,” Ong Kian Ming, an adjunct professor at Taylor's University, told CNA.
BN won 48 out of 56 seats in the Johor state assembly at the Jul 11 polls, an increase of eight from the 2022 state polls. PH won the remaining eight seats, losing four from its previous tally of 12.The Democratic Action Party (DAP), a PH component party, lost four seats long regarded as its traditional strongholds to BN component parties."DAP needs to stem the bleeding after poor state election results in Sabah and in Johor," added Ong, a former deputy minister of international trade and industry.“Negeri Sembilan may provide such an opportunity as it is the home state of DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke.”Meanwhile, BN must now show that its renewed momentum can travel beyond its traditional Johor stronghold, where it had exceptional organisational strength, a strong local brand and a popular chief minister in Onn Hafiz Ghazi, observers said."BN needs to show that the ‘blue wave’ in Johor can be extended to another state, Negeri Sembilan, where it doesn’t have the same advantages as in Johor - incumbency, and a good chief minister candidate as a poster boy," said Ong.Blue is BN’s official colour and is used in its logo, and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had spoken about how the pact aims to use the Johor polls as a launchpad for its nationwide resurgence.The coalition could try achieving this by using positive momentum from Johor to convince voters it can govern Negeri Sembilan better than PH, or even strike an unofficial pact with Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) to consolidate the Malay vote and chip away at PH's support in the state, the observers added.
