Speaking here at a forum on current politics, the former deputy minister predicted that the opposition coalition won’t do much better in Johor than did its precursor, Pakatan Rakyat, in the 2013 election.
“In GE13, they managed to swing Chinese votes, but the number of Malay votes they got was insignificant,” he said.
He scoffed at Pakatan’s claim that PPBM president and Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin enjoyed enough popularity in the state to swing a significant portion of Malay votes away from Umno.
“He may have been the Johor menteri besar, but that was 20 to 30 years ago,” he said, referring to Muhyiddin’s tenure from 1986 to 1995.
The best that Muhyiddin could do, he added, would be to influence Malay voters in Pagoh and Muar.
Gan also said the popularity of the Johor royal family would work against the opposition coalition because the royals had “old scores to settle” with Pakatan chairman and prime ministerial candidate Mahathir Mohamad.
Furthermore, he claimed, Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin had one of the highest popularity ratings among Malay leaders.
Even those Malays who were disgruntled with Khaled might “not necessarily vote” for Pakatan, he said, noting that PAS would also be contesting in the election.
He also said Pakatan risked losing some Chinese support because it is now led by Mahathir. He claimed that DAP won in Chinese-majority constituencies in past elections by riding on anti-Mahathir issues.
“The older generation, especially those 40 years and above, are still unhappy with Mahathir,” he said. “They may not support PH for working with Mahathir. This will be a great challenge for PH.”
Referring to Pakatan’s claim that the rising cost of living would cause voters to reject Barisan Nasional, he said this might not happen in Johor because the state was not as badly affected as the rest of the country.
He claimed that Johor had been receiving high levels of foreign direct investments for several years and its economy was doing so well that 400,000 people had migrated there from other states in the last few years.