Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Albert Kok is hoping for a ‘Malay tsunami’ to help him wrest the Kesidang state seat from Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Nov 14 Melaka election.
Kok said he hoped PN’s cooperation with Barisan Nasional (BN), coupled with a high voter turnout on polling day, would help the coalition secure victory in the DAP stronghold.
The Wawasan candidate said public sentiment had shifted, with more people seeking political renewal. He believed this presented PN with an opportunity to capture Kesidang.
Malay voter turnout seen as key challenge
Kok said the 2021 election results showed that voter turnout among Chinese voters in Kesidang was higher than among Malays, which he identified as PN’s main challenge in the upcoming polls.
‘I believe that if we have a high Malay voter turnout and all of them support us, PN has a shot at victory.
‘The people are smarter and wiser today. They know who deserves their vote,’ he told FMT in an interview.
Kok, who is Kota Melaka Wawasan deputy chief, acknowledged that PN faced a tough challenge but remained confident that a change was possible, particularly with the support of the election machinery from PAS and BN.
DAP has held Kesidang since 2008
MCA first won the Kesidang seat when it was created in 2004. DAP wrested the constituency in 2008 and has retained it ever since.
DAP’s Allex Seah secured a comfortable 10,237-vote majority in the 2021 state election, defeating candidates from MCA and Gerakan.
Chinese voters make up 54.7% of the electorate in the mixed constituency, followed by Malays at 38.5% and Indians at 5%.
Seah is seeking a third term as Kesidang assemblyman, facing Kok and Bersama candidate Bryan Kek.
Kok also said there was no guarantee that Chinese voters would continue supporting DAP, adding that race was not the main factor influencing voting decisions.
