In an interview with FMT, Sofee stressed that PH does not focus on race in the choice of candidates as it had also fielded non-Malays in Malay-majority seats.
“However, with the increase of Malay voters to more than 60%, compared with non-Malays at 37%, the party made a strategic decision to place a Malay candidate since Perikatan Nasional (PN) also fielded a Malay candidate,” Sofee said.
Sofee is the first Malay MP candidate for the Padang Serai seat after 14 years of representation by Indian MPs since 2008, namely N Gobalakrishnan (2008-2013), N Surendran (2013-2018) and the late M Karupaiya (2018-2022).
The lawyer was picked to replace Karupaiya, who died three days before polling for the 15th general election (GE15) on Nov 19.
Sofee said reception from voters of various races in Padang Serai has been positive. “I asked Indian voters whether they are okay with my candidacy and they say ‘we don’t care about race’,” he said.
He is focusing on addressing the constituents’ woes over frequent flooding, shortage of job opportunities for youths, absence of recreational facilities, and lack of a sheltered trading spot for hawkers.
Winning the Malay votes
Sofee concedes that winning Malay support in Padang Serai will be a struggle for PH after it managed to win only 10% of the Malay votes in GE15.
He is intensifying his campaign in Malay-majority areas and villages such Merbau Pulas, where 80% of the voters are Malays, and in Lunas, which is more racially diverse.
His campaign includes organising religious programmes in villages, featuring religious leaders from Amanah and PKR. These religious leaders would reach out to rural PAS supporters who, he said, are being influenced by PAS’ and PN’s rhetoric.
“We are bringing the religious leaders to correct the racial and religious narrative presented by PN. I can say the entire Amanah machinery has stationed itself in Merbau Pulas since it is a Malay majority seat.
“We have asked Amanah to give its full attention to Merbau Pulas since it used to contest in the seat and lost to PAS (in GE14) by only 400 plus votes. If we can increase our vote share in Merbau Pulas, we can increase the majority should we win,” he said.
In the voting for the Padang Serai seat on Dec 7, Sofee will be up against PN’s Azman Nasruddin and independent candidate Ananda AK. The candidates from Barisan Nasional (BN) and Warisan have withdrawn from the race and are backing Sofee.