JOHOR — Barisan Nasional (BN) has trounced Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Tanjung Piai by-election on Saturday (Nov 16) with a whopping majority of 15,086 votes, the Election Commission (EC) announced.

According to returning officer Zulkifly Mohd Tahir, BN’s candidate Wee Jeck Seng from the Malaysian Chinese Association received 25,466 votes over PH’s Karmaine Sardini from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, who received 10,380 votes.

Tanjung Piai in Johor has 52,986 voters, comprising 57 per cent Malays, 42 per cent Chinese and 1 per cent Indians.

Mr Wee, who had served as Tanjung Piai MP prior to his slim defeat to Bersatu’s late Dr Farid Md Rafik in the 14th general election, received his biggest majority since he took over from Ong Ka Ting who won with a 23,615-vote majority in 2004.

Mr Wee’s majority in 2008 and 2013 were 12,371 and 5,457 votes, respectively.

In the 14th general election, Farid, who was a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and an anaesthesiologist by profession, had won with a slim majority of merely over 524 votes.

The by-election was called following his death of Farid on Sept 21 due to heart complications. He was 42.

Former BN component Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam trailed the two main coalitions with 1,707 votes, followed by Islamist party Berjasa’s Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz with 850 votes.

The two independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar received 380 and 32 votes, respectively. The voter turnout was 74.3 per cent, with 595 spoilt votes, the EC said.

There was a frenzy at the BN Command Centre in Jalan Umno as political leaders such as United Malays National Organisation (Umno) president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Mr Wee hugged each other.

Embattled former coalition chairman Najib Razak arrived to join the celebration not long after, to chants of “Malu apa bossku!”

The crowd also chanted to thank voters: “Terima kasih, Terima kasih Tanjung Piai!”

Joining the early celebration are a few officials from Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), which is backing the BN candidate as part of its cooperation with Umno.

“Our unity pact is working. This is just the start. We are confident it will spread to other areas,” said Kuala Selangor PAS commissioner Muhammad Rashid Muhammad Kassim.

Presidet of PH component party Parti Keadilan Rakyat and prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim urged PH leaders to deliver the ruling coalition’s election pledges, after its massive loss in the by-election.

“This majority received by the Opposition is a shock and a clear message to the whole of PH leadership,” Mr Anwar said in a Twitter thread on Saturday night.

“We should also try to sow trust with the public towards the policies implemented by PH with a positive effort to deliver our promises.” 

This is the second consecutive win by BN after the Semenyih state by-election in March.

PH and BN had faced a three-cornered fight in 2018 with PAS, which did not contest this by-election and had instead backed BN’s candidate following its all alliance between PAS and BN.