JOHOR BAHRU - The hard work of the Umno Pulai Division has paid off as they successfully convinced grassroots supporters to vote for Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidates, resulting in PH receiving 10,000 Malay votes in the recent Parliamentary by-election in Pulai, held last Saturday.
"Out of the total of 48,823 votes received by the PH candidate for the Pulai Parliamentary constituency, Suhaizan Kaiat, a simple analysis indicates that approximately 10,000 votes came from Malay voters, particularly Umno grassroots members.
"These figures demonstrate that the Umno Pulai machinery's efforts have ultimately succeeded in providing information, enlightenment, and to some extent, instilling confidence in Malay voters regarding the BN-PH political cooperation within the unity government," he said in a statement on Monday.
Nur Jazlan, who is also the Pulai Umno Division chief, said that the Malay vote numbers in the Pulai by-election provide a clearer indication of the Malay community's support for the PH candidate.
"As the Pulai Umno Division chief, I pledge to 'persuade' Umno members to support the PH candidate, and ultimately, thanks to the hard work of the division and branch leaders of Umno Pulai, we have succeeded in instilling some confidence and opening the eyes of grassroots members about the importance of BN-PH cooperation for the continuity of Umno's political agenda.
"That is a signal that Umno grassroots members are still loyal to the aspirations of the division and branch leadership," he said.
PH successfully retained control of the Pulai Parliament by winning the seat with a majority of 18,641 votes, with their candidate Suhaizan Kaiat, emerging as the winner.
Suhaizan, who is also the former Speaker of the Johor State Legislative Assembly, secured 48,283 votes, while Zulkifli Jaafar from PN received 29,642 votes, and Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi, an independent candidate, garnered 528 votes.
Nur Jazlan, who is also the Dewan Negara Deputy Speaker, added that according to his analysis of 40 ballot boxes in the Pulai Parliament, even though the PH candidate only received 10,000 votes from Malay and Umno voters, that figure remains significant.
"The 10,000 Malay votes received by PH in Pulai are from genuine, solid voters who have supported Umno Pulai since the previous general elections (GE)," he remarked.
"In the GE15, I received 30,000 votes, so if we do simple maths; 10,000 hardcore Umno voters, 9,000 Malay Umno voters went to Perikatan Nasional (PN), and the remaining 10,000-plus Malay voters who didn't turn up to vote are those who didn't want to vote for either PH or PN.
"The 10,000 Malay votes that Suhaizan received yesterday involved ballot boxes from the Perling and Kempas State Assembly constituencies, the majority of which came from Umno Pulai members.
These individuals remain loyal and follow the wishes of the Umno Pulai leadership to support Suhaizan," he stated.