Johor polls: DAP’s Chin Tong hits back at Umno for claiming ‘big swing’ in Chinese votes from Pakatan to BN

JOHOR BARU, March 9 — Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong today hit back at his “friend” Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Umno for claiming that a substantial number of Chinese voters in the state will vote for Barisan Nasional (BN) on March 12.

He said the “manipulated script” currently employed by the Johor Umno deputy chief and his party was a ploy to gain more support from among Malay and Indian voters in mixed seats previously won by Pakatan Harapan (PH).

“It is also very interesting to observe that Umno, particularly through my friend Nur Jazlan, is telling voters there will be a big swing among Chinese voters back to Umno and MCA.

“This is done to convince Malay voters to support BN as even the Chinese are supporting the former ruling coalition.

“Nur Jazlan had to even do a show to convince voters that there will be an expected big swing by Chinese voters from PH to BN,” said Liew at the Perling PH-DAP state election operations centre in Taman Nusa Bestari here today.

He was responding to a question during a press conference if Chinese voters are key to securing a majority of Johor’s mixed seats.

Liew, who is PH’s Perling hopeful, was also accompanied by Johor DAP deputy chief Teo Nie Ching, who is also the party’s Kulai MP.

Liew explained that most Johor state constituencies are in fact multi-ethnic.

Thus, he said, Umno had to manufacture a situation suggesting there is no point in voting for other parties as BN is in a prime position to win.

“By telling Malay voters to support BN in order for the coalition to win is a manipulation of ideas by Umno,” he said, adding that this was the script that Nur Jazlan and many others in Umno, including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, are parroting.

Liew revealed that in Johor, most of the seats require Malay and Indian votes, and there will be a tough fight as it was a 50-50 chance for BN.

“In fact, Umno itself is struggling to reach half of any state seat, even in Malay areas,” said Liew.

There are less than three days to go before polling day, which falls on Saturday.

Johor has 56 state constituencies, with more than 2.59 million voters who are eligible to cast their ballots this time. The Election Commission is targeting a 70 per cent voter turnout.