PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli has refuted claims that the implementation of the targeted diesel subsidy scheme was the cause of the unity government's defeat in the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Rafizi clarified to reporters on Wednesday (July 10) that if the subsidy scheme was indeed the cause of the defeat, Perikatan Nasional should have seen an increase in their Malay voter base in the by-election, but that was not the case as the voter base remained the same as the previous election.
Rafizi, who is also the PKR election director, emphasised the need to thoroughly examine the results of the Sungai Bakap by-election before determining the real cause of the defeat, suggesting that a combination of factors might be at play.
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Rafizi clarified to reporters on Wednesday (July 10) that if the subsidy scheme was indeed the cause of the defeat, Perikatan Nasional should have seen an increase in their Malay voter base in the by-election, but that was not the case as the voter base remained the same as the previous election.
Rafizi, who is also the PKR election director, emphasised the need to thoroughly examine the results of the Sungai Bakap by-election before determining the real cause of the defeat, suggesting that a combination of factors might be at play.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Some have blamed about the fuel subsidy. What do you think happened in Sunil Bakar?
00:14I think you have to drill down to the nitty-gritty of the result. Nitty-gritty of the result
00:23is that there is no obvious swing in Malay support. In the last PRN, Malay support for
00:32PH candidate was about 22-23%. Currently, it's about 22-23% too. So, even though the
00:43majority seems high, actually there was no swing of support for Malays. Likewise, there
00:50is no swing of support for non-Malays. Chinese were about 90% voted for PH. The main difference
01:01this time around is the turn-out rate. The turn-out rate has a big difference. In the
01:08voting area, the majority of Malay, it hit as high as 80%. In the voting area, the majority
01:18of Chinese, there are two. One is Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan, Taman Bandar Mutiara.
01:25The other is Sunil Bakar. The voting area is as low as 45%. So, if you are looking at
01:35the turn-out rate of especially Chinese and then to a certain extent Indians, are half
01:42of the Malay voters. Dalam keadaan yang sokongan itu tidak beralih. It's actually, we are still
01:51that low exactly as one year ago in terms of support. So, I think that has to be established
01:57first. Then, I think you can go to the next question. The next question is sama ada.
02:03Apa, adakah ini disebabkan diesel and so on. I think we have to engage more with focus
02:13group with the non-Malay voters there to understand their motivation of not coming out. Tapi kalau
02:20dilihat kepada tahap sokongan pengundi Melayu, kalau betul soal diesel semua ini ada kesan
02:29besar kepada undian, then you would have expected PN to actually increase their share
02:36of vote. But it didn't. It remains exactly the same. It's about 22-78. Last year sebelum
02:43ada diesel pun macam itu, sekarang selepas diesel pun begitu. So, I think we have to
02:48look at everything in totality. So, as it is now, if we were to conclude the motivation
02:59for the non-Malays not to turn up lah, lower turnout. Is it diesel? Is it other issues?
03:07I think that's something that we have to get more data on lah. Although I also have to
03:12point out, actually, traditionally, memang dalam PRK dan pilihan raya negeri, turnout
03:19rate of non-Malays memang selalunya lebih rendah. Sebab itu, I think, you know, dia
03:25menyentuh Johor sikit lah. Contoh kalau macam PRN Johor, kan? PRN Johor, contohnya, in
03:312022, kan? BN menang besar. Part of it is because sebenarnya pengundi bukan Melayu itu
03:39dia tak keluar. Tapi when it comes to PRU kemudian, about seven months later, the turnout
03:44itu come back and dia rebalance the whole thing. So, traditionally pun, memang pengundi
03:51bukan Melayu, semasa PRK dan PRN, memang historically have a lower turnout than Melay voters lah,
03:59kan? Jadi, I think, is, is, apa namanya, too early for us to conclude anything because
04:11the parameters were quite clear. First, memang tidak ada peralihan sokongan kepada
04:17siapa-siapa. We are exactly as we were almost a year ago. Secondly, the issue is sebenarnya
04:24turnout. Then, of course, do we have enough information to say the non-Malays didn't
04:29turn out about diesel? I think that we, we need to go back and, and find out more. But
04:34yet, at the same time, if diesel were a big issue, you don't get that with the Malays
04:43because the support level remains the same. So, I think, we will operate within those
04:49parameters. At PKR level, definitely, we will get more data and information. But I think,
04:57is, is, is, is a mixture of all.
05:00I think, though, you are aware that some politicians have personally blamed you for the loss,
05:07KJ and Ken.
05:09Well, when, when PR, PH won successively before, actually, that issue doesn't come up. And
05:20sebab itu, I think, sama ada Kian Meng ke, KJ ke, or anyone, I have not read whatever
05:26their, their comments. I think we have to go back to the data and fact, kan? And the data
05:34and fact is, basically, is about turnout rate. Jadi, I think, we have to look everything
05:40in totality. When I was leading the, apa namanya, election campaign for PKR, from such, such,
05:52successive loss in PRN Melaka and then PRN Jopo, and then in PRU 2022, and then we did
06:00a lot better than what was expected. Dia tak ada pula, KJ ke Kian Meng, but comment.
06:05Masa itu, kan? So, I think, we have to approach it a bit more scientifically, and therefore
06:13you have to look at the parameters and the data and so on. For the time being, to me,
06:18it's inconclusive. In fact, we are deadlocked. If anything, one thing that is certain is
06:25that the country has not moved forward in terms of political support for the last 12
06:31to 15 months, whatever either side are doing. And that's, to me, is more worrying than anything
06:37else. It shows how polarised everything is. So, I think, you letaklah Kian Meng ke, jadi
06:44ke, KJ ke, but I don't think it's going to shift anything. And if anything, that worries
06:49me, how deadlocked the polarisation is.