Long-standing problems in Sungai Bakap enabled PN's Abidin Ismail win with a historical majority

SUNGAI BAKAP - Perikatan Nasional (PN) has successfully defended the Sungai Bakap State Legislative Assembly (DUN) seat after its candidate Abidin Ismail won in the by-election for the area with a majority of 4,267 votes.

The former logistics executive obtained 14,489 votes, defeating his challenger, Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr Joohari Ariffin, who is also the former Director of the Northern Branch of the Aminuddin Baki Institute, who garnered 10,222 votes.

The result was announced by the Election Officer for the Sungai Bakap by-election Khairulnizam Hashim at the official vote tallying Centre at the Jawi Multipurpose Hall here on Saturday.

Abidin, who is more affectionately known as Abang Abidin, had earlier promised to continue Nor Zamri Latiff's legacy if elected to replace his 'boss' as the representative in the Sungai Bakap seat.

The Pas Nibong Tebal deputy chief, when met by the media after the announcement of the results, expressed gratitude for the victory and described it as the result of the hard work of the campaign machinery over the two weeks of campaigning.

Earlier, Abidin, 56, dressed in a PN vest and black trousers, arrived at the hall at 9.30pm.

The Sungai Bakap seat had 39,279 voters, comprising 39,222 ordinary voters and 57 police officers.

It is understood that local sentiments or issues, particularly the water supply problems that have persisted for the past six years, were among the factors for PH's defeat in the Sungai Bakap by-election this time.

Most of the voters met earlier expressed regret that the basic needs issues they faced had not been adequately addressed by the State Government and the previous PH representative.

Although the state and federal governments had announced short and long-term plans as well as development projects being undertaken by the relevant parties, as announced several times by the responsible minister previously, it was seen as difficult for the residents of Sungai Bakap to accept.

This may be due to the long-standing problems that had not been resolved satisfactorily.

Because of this, some of them felt that all the plans and projects carried out by the government were just election bait, and they were not willing to accept the long resolution period required to solve their problems.

Previously, political analysts stated that both PH and PN candidates had their own strengths to win the Sungai Bakap seat.

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Development Studies Universiti Malaya Dr Mohammad Tawfik Yaakub said this was because the political history of the area showed that the seat was open as it had been won by various political parties.

"This area is under the Nibong Tebal Parliament and there are three different parties governing three state seats in one parliamentary area, which shows that it has different political dynamics compared to other places.

"The Sungai Bakap seat is an open seat and if we look from the beginning, no political party has won with a majority of more than 2,500 votes, and in political history, we have seen that Barisan Nasional, Umno, PKR and Pas have all won the seat," he said.

The Sungai Bakap by-election was held following the death of Nor Zamri on May 24.

In the Penang State Election last August, Nor Zamri, who was the Nibong Tebal Pas Chief, defeated PH candidate Nurhidayah Che Rose with a majority of 1,563 votes.

Abidin did not surpass the incumbent's 15,433 votes but win with a majority of 4,267. Meanwhile PH's vote drop 10,222 from last year's August state election was 13,870.

Earlier, PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli on his X, has blamed the non-Malays low voter turnout.