KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15: Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Kerk Chee Yee, 34, emerged as the youngest winner in the 16th Melaka State Election, while incumbent Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ab Rauf Yusoh, 65, was the oldest.
Kerk polled 14,078 votes in a four-cornered contest for the Ayer Keroh state seat, defeating Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Gan Peng Lam (8,474 votes), Muhammad Muhaimin Lau Abdullah of Bersama (1,932 votes), and Mohd Hamnaim Mohamad of Bersatu (1,077 votes).
Kerk, who has held the seat for the past two terms, won with a majority of 5,604 votes.
The Ayer Keroh state constituency, which has 38,252 registered electors, is one of four state seats under the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary constituency.
Ab Rauf retained the Tanjung Bidara state seat after securing 10,079 votes to defeat PH candidate Mohd Yunazri Mustamiri, who garnered 1,464 votes in a straight fight.
The Melaka Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman defended the seat with a majority of 8,615 votes, up from a 364-vote majority in the 2021 state election.
Only four of the 14 women candidates who contested the Melaka state election won the voters’ mandate, comprising three from BN and one from PH.
The winning BN candidates are Tuminah Kadi @ Mohd Hashim in Pantai Kundor, Siti Aisyah Mahmood (Pengkalan Batu), and Khaidhirah Abu Zahar (Rim).
Tuminah defeated Bersatu candidate Asmah Samat with a majority of 2,752 votes after polling 8,864 votes against her challenger’s 6,112.
Siti Aisyah, the sole female candidate in Pengkalan Batu, won a four-cornered contest with a majority of 6,358 votes.
She defeated PH’s Jason Tze-xi Nathan (5,478 votes), Bersatu’s Norhizam Hassan Baktee (876 votes), and Bersama’s Goh Han Koon (618 votes).
Rim incumbent Khaidhirah polled 9,847 votes to defeat PH’s Esma Eazreen Husin (2,757 votes) with a majority of 7,090 votes.
PH candidate Leng Chau Yen defended the Bandar Hilir seat after polling 9,942 votes, defeating BN’s Lok Huey Yee (2,085 votes) and Mohd Nor Rashidi Ab. Jalil (1,315 votes) to win with a majority of 7,857 votes.
In the 16th Melaka state election that ended yesterday, BN won 21 of the 28 state seats to secure a two-thirds majority, while PH retained four seats and PN three. The Melaka State Legislative Assembly was dissolved on Sept 23, and the Election Commission (EC) set Oct 31 for nomination day, Nov 10 for early voting, and today for polling.
Meanwhile, Melaka DAP Chairman Khoo Poay Tiong said DAP’s success in defending its four strongholds in the 16th Melaka State Election – namely the Ayer Keroh, Bandar Hilir, Kesidang, and Kota Laksamana State Legislative Assembly (DUN) seats – reflected voter support and the party’s significant position in those areas.
He said that the results in the three new seats contested by DAP – Gadek, Pengkalan Batu, and Duyong – also showed that the party’s candidates managed to retain their respective deposits, including in seats previously predicted to suffer heavy defeats.
“To the voters who continue to give us their support and trust, once again I would like to express a million thanks. Every vote given served as a source of strength and motivation for us to keep fighting,” he said at a press conference at the DAP Office here tonight.
The Kota Melaka Member of Parliament also gave an assurance that Melaka DAP will redouble its efforts to play a check-and-balance role, both inside and outside the DUN.
“We will continue to serve the people, voice out their thoughts, and fight for the rights and interests of the people. We are committed to carrying out the trust given by the voters with full responsibility and will not waste that trust,” he said.
Regarding suggestions that the Melaka State Election results were not in favour of Pakatan Harapan (PH), particularly in seats contested by component party partners, Khoo did not deny that this partly stemmed from racial and religious sentiments played up by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
However, he said the State Election result was also a clear message from voters to DAP and PH to rectify all weaknesses in order to win back public support in the future.
Khoo, who is also Melaka PH Deputy Chairman, said that the coalition will hold an in-depth and open post-mortem session with all component parties to identify all weaknesses and take corrective measures.
“We acknowledge that PH as a whole did not obtain the results as expected. Therefore, the responsibilities and challenges awaiting us after this will certainly be greater, and whatever the outcome, we respect and accept the decision of the people of Melaka with utmost humility,” he said.
Khoo said relations between DAP and PH’s two other component parties, PKR and Amanah, remained close and will continue to support the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister.
Also present at the press conference were the four DAP candidates who successfully defended their seats: Low Chee Leong (Kota Laksamana), Allex Seah Shoo Chin (Kesidang), Kerk Chee Yee (Ayer Keroh), and Leng Chau Yen (Bandar Hilir).
— BERNAMA