A test for MIC
On the 30th of November, Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat shared the same fate as Rantau state seat when the Election Court declared its result for GE-14 as null and void. The reason behind the nullification is that the winner of Cameron Highland seat back in May, MIC vice-president Datuk Sivarrajh Chandran, was involved in vote-buying. Subsequently, the court ruled out for a fresh election for Cameron Highlands seat.
According to GE-14 results, Sivarraajh won the seat in a five-cornered battle with a majority of 597 votes. He polled at 10,307 votes, while DAP Manogaran Marimuthu garnered 9,710 votes. Respectively, Wan Mahadhir Wan Mahmud (PAS) received 3,587 votes, Suresh Kumar (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) gathered 680 votes and Mohd Tahir Kassim (BERJASA) only had 81 votes.
The top issues for the topic “Cameron Highlands seat” for the past one-week duration can be divided into three categories. First, the court ruled out for a by-election. Next, Sivarraajh will be filling for an appeal to the court. Lastly, which party or candidate will be contesting for the by-election.
Looking at the influencers for Cameron Highland MP seat, Sivarraajh took the fifth spot with 40 statements for the past one-week period. He denied that he bought votes from the Orang Asli community and he will file an appeal to the court.
The top influencer is Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail (UMNO) who said that it is still early to announce a candidate for the by-election as Sivarraajh will be filling for an appeal.
Meanwhile, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that Barisan Nasional will pave way for MIC to contest in the by-election because Cameron Highlands have always been a MIC seat.
On the Pakatan Harapan side, the coalition chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the primary influencer with 63 statements. He said that it is to early to announce the candidate for the by-election. Plus, he also did not mention on which party will be participating.
Whereas, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that DAP will participate in the by-election, stating that DAP have been contesting for the seat since the constituency was created back in 2004.
If the by-election were to proceed after Sivarraajh’s appeal, it will be interesting to see which party will be participating. Nevertheless, it will most likely be DAP versus MIC. What even more interesting is the polling result because it will show the relevancy of MIC in Malaysia political scene since Cameron Highlands is the party stronghold.