Jeered and chased away when campaigning under Barisan Nasional colours for the seat in 2018, the Penang Gerakan chairman puts on a braver face this time around.
The tide appears to have turned, as more voters are warming up to Gerakan despite it being linked with Perikatan Nasional and the seemingly irresistible “green wave”.
“I have been called a dog for working with Umno in the past. People have shooed me away, (but) things have changed now,” the state deputy PN chief told FMT.
“The Chinese are not chasing me away, they are saying ‘jia you’ (all the best), and the Malays are fully with me.”
At a crowded pasar malam at Pantai Jerejak, Oh was seen campaigning with a pep in his step after an “air nira” (coconut water) seller embraced him and said he was going to win.
Giving him moral support was former minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, a self-confessed free agent who is supporting PN.
Oh believes most of the Malays in Pantai Jerejak will back him this time, while some Chinese may be prepared to take the bold step of voting for PN, raising his chances of taking at least 10% of their vote.
Based on 2018 data, Chinese voters make up 50% in Pantai Jerejak, followed by the Malays (37%), Indians (11%) and others (0.72%).
Oh said the Chinese were warming-up to PN due to a trust deficit as DAP and PH had forgone their principles by working with longtime foe Umno.
Unlike in the past, Chinese market goers did not throw away Gerakan campaign material.
That comes as no surprise to Oh, who did not lose his deposit when he contested last year for the Bayan Baru parliamentary seat, within which the Pantai Jerejak state seat is located, polling an impressive 20,307 votes, or 22% of the total cast.
Despite winning, incumbent MP Sim Tze Tzin’s share of the votes was down 6%.
“A lot of the Chinese voters are angry. They say DAP has abused their trust by working with Umno,” Oh said.
Like the other Pantai Jerejak candidates, Oh had nothing nice to say about former PKR assemblyman Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is also the home minister.
“We have never seen him ‘turun padang’ and he hardly attended the state assembly. That is why we call him a ‘billboard YB’, because that is the only place where you can see him,” he said.
Oh said that unlike Saifuddin, he has remained on the ground to hear the peoples’ grouses despite losing in Pantai Jerejak in 2018 and in Bayan Baru last year.
The Pantai Jerejak seat will see a four-cornered fight among Oh, Pakatan Harapan’s Fahmi Zainol, Muda’s Priyankaa Loh and PRM’s Ravinder Singh.
According to the Election Commission, there are 29,890 eligible voters in the state constituency.