COMMENTARY, March 11 — Johoreans heading to the polls tomorrow are probably hoping to vote in a state government that can lead the state out of the economic doldrums it has been stuck in the last two years.
Campaigning in the past two weeks has been rather tame and subdued as the 239 candidates worked around various SOPs to reach out to voters who seemed quite unenthusiastic.
No issues raised by the candidates sparked excitement among urban voters as they went about their daily routine of cari makan but in the rural areas where the Malay heartland lies, there was more excitement.
Perhaps the Malays there are highly politicised or they are in a worse situation than their urban counterparts.
On the surface after two weeks of campaign, Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) seems to be leading as Umno party deputy president Datuk Mohamad Hasan (Tok Mat) said BN has already crossed the finish line.
It simply means BN is confident it has more than half of the 56 seats in the bag.
Without going into details, Tok Mat said: “It’s a comfortable figure and whatever extra we get above that is bonus.”
Trailing behind BN is DAP, followed by PKR.
Two other Malay-based parties — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) — have also been working hard to bury Umno in the state where it was born.
However, tomorrow night will reveal all.
