JELEBU: Pakatan Harapan’s Klawang candidate Bakri Sawir is unfazed by the prospect of facing a Barisan Nasional (BN)-Perikatan Nasional (PN) pact in the Negeri Sembilan polls, having won the seat without Umno’s backing in the past.
Bakri, who is seeking a third term as Klawang assemblyman, said the BN-PN alliance was no threat as Umno’s support did not transfer to him despite BN and PH cooperating during the 2023 state election.
“We were supposed to be working together in 2023 but I was betrayed by Umno because they didn’t vote for me.
“So the scenario is the same now, with BN and PN working together this time around,” the Amanah man told FMT.
Umno had held Klawang since 1986 before Bakri wrested the seat for PH in 2018, winning with a slim 976-vote majority in a three-cornered race with BN and PAS candidates.
In the 2023 state polls, Bakri won the seat with a slimmer 577-vote majority despite the PH-BN pact, defeating his closest contender, Danni Rais, who was from Bersatu then.
This time around, Bakri is being challenged again by Danni, who has joined PN component Parti Wawasan Negara, as well as Bersatu’s Adib Musa.
Umno disgruntlement a possible advantage
Bakri, a two-term state executice councillor, said there was discontent among local Umno grassroots over BN allowing PN to contest the seat, with several BN operations rooms shuttered amid campaigning.
He said this could be to his advantage as he seeks to retain the Klawang seat and expand his majority to over 1,000 votes.
Bakri also said the three-cornered contest would benefit him as Bersatu would split PN’s votes. Bersatu is engaged in a bitter feud with PAS and decided to go solo, clashing with PN candidates in eight seats, including Klawang.
Nonetheless, he said he was not merely banking on the weaknesses of his rivals to defend his seat, and would be ramping up his campaign on the ground.
“What I need to do is to increase my face-to-face interactions with Malay voters to attract their support,” he added.
Bakri is also riding on his track record as Klawang assemblyman, saying 80% of complaints from constituents had been resolved in the past eight years.
Klawang, which falls under the Jelebu parliamentary constituency held by BN, is a Malay-majority seat where the community makes up 66.3% of voters, followed by the Chinese (27.4%), Indians (3.7%) and Orang Asli (1.9%).
