Johor Umno leader commends supporters for not sabotaging Pulai, Simpang Jeram polls

JOHOR BARU: Umno members in Johor have been commended for not sabotaging the party in the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections, says a state Umno leader.

Johor Umno information chief Datuk Md Jais Sarday said that while there was a swing of Malay votes to Perikatan Nasional, the overall win in Pulai and Simpang Jeram seats showed that most Umno members loved the party and toed the party line.

“Those who did not want to vote for the Pakatan Harapan candidates just did not come out to vote. That is evident of the low voter turnout this time around which was 47.33% for Pulai and 60.85% in Simpang Jeram,” he told The Star.

In GE15, voter turnout in Pulai was 71%, while 53.4% of voters voted in the state elections in March last year.

Md Jais said that the results showed that the people took a stand to stop the much-touted “green wave” from entering Johor borders.

“Johor may not have that many sekolah pondok like in Kedah, Kelantan or Terengganu but our religious schools teach the proper ways of Islam. We do not use religion to be judgemental of people or promise people entry into heaven if they supported a particular political party,” said Md Jais, who is also Johor Barisan Nasional information chief.

Jais said that Umno should not be complacent because of these two wins for the unity government pact but should instead double its efforts by going to the ground to explain to Malay voters especially Umno members about how the unity government worked and Umno’s cooperation with DAP.

“Perikatan has been using emotion and sentiments to sway the Malay voters,” he said.

“It is time to explain to members about the new political narrative of cooperation in the unity government.”

On Saturday, Pakatan’s Suhaizan Kayat won the Pulai seat with a 18,641 seat majority. He got a total of 48,283 votes while Zulkifli Jaafar from Perikatan Nasional secured 29,642 votes.

Meanwhile in Simpang Jeram, Pakatan won with a 3,514 vote majority. Pakatan’s Nazri Abdul Rahman received 13,844 votes while Perikatan’s Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya got 10,330 votes.