PETALING JAYA: Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu says the key to his retaining the Tambun seat at the general election would be the votes from the Indian community, whom he regards as kingmakers in the constituency.
Faizal, who won in Tambun on a Pakatan Harapan (PH) ticket in the last general election (GE14) in 2018, is likely to be in a multi-cornered fight, which includes a clash with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In an interview with FMT, Faizal said the Malay vote in Tambun was likely to be split equally between Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN). According to GE14 data, Malays account for 67% of the Tambun electorate.
The Chinese vote, he said, benefitted him in GE14. But he admitted it would be an uphill battle to secure the bulk of the community’s support again.
“I have been working very closely with the poor, the elderly, and also those with disabilities. I’ve been focusing on them because I see there is not enough support for them,” he said.
“(However) this time I don’t think I can retain the 90% Chinese votes because I truly believe that the Chinese are still supporting PH,” he said. The Chinese account for 20% of Tambun voters.
Faizal, commonly known as Peja, said Indian voters, who make up 11% of the electorate, were the kingmakers in Tambun. “I don’t think they understand that,” he said.
He said he was confident of garnering at least half the Indian vote because of his track record as Perak menteri besar.
“In Tambun, there is one Indian village (in) Tanjung Rambutan. For the past 60 years, they have not been serviced by rubbish collection trucks. Only when I became the menteri besar was that problem solved.
“These people are close to me. All Indians, they are my brothers and sisters,” he said, adding there were Indian voters in Tambun who have volunteered to help him with his campaign even though they were not PN members.
In GE14, Faizal defeated former second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah of BN with a majority of 5,320 votes in a three-cornered fight for Tambun, which included a candidate from PAS.
In the Chenderiang state seat, however, Faizal won by a slim majority of 39 votes against the BN candidate from MCA.
With PH winning the state in the May 2018 polls, Azumu became the Perak menteri besar as he was the then state PH chairman. However, his tenure was shortlived as he was forced out of office in December 2020, when his new BN allies in the state government decided to replace him with a menteri besar from Umno.
