Pang Sock Tao, a former Press Secretary to Housing and Local Government Minister, Nga Kor Ming, was declared the winner in the N.06 Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election by a majority of 3,869 votes over her Perikatan Nasional (PN) opponent, Khairul Azhari Saut from BERSATU. The by-election was due to the untimely death of Lee Kee Hiong, due to ovarian cancer. Seeing that the smoke has cleared and everything has calmed down, I would like to give an opinionated analysis as a third party.
Reaction of Choice of Candidate
After the deadline of naming of candidates had passed, I was very shocked. I was wondering how a press secretary to a Red Faction minister of DAP really pull off a stunning win for the DAP? After all, Nga has said some, shall we say, unpleasant things about Malay and Indian members in Malaysian society, who make up 47.6% and 17.4% of the Kuala Kubu Baharu electorate, especially with him allegedly calling then-Perak Chief Minister Zambry Abd Kadir “Melayu Puk***k and used the term ”metallic black" to describe Indian skin. Not to mention, the Perikatan Nasional candidate is a local to the area - meaning he would probably have more insight to the bread-and-butter issues that were faced by the community.
Campaign
During the course of the campaign, there were three main issues that stood out for me: Sock Tao's vernacular background, the formation of Indian based parties to get Indians to reject PH and DAP and continuity. Firstly, Pang Sock Tao's vernacular education was scrutinized by PAS information chief, Ahmad Fadhli Shaari who was probably trying to play a language card which he had hoped would spook Malay conservatives into not voting for the PH candidate.
The second issue that arose was when MIPP [Malaysian Indian Peoples' Party] joined PN, which marked the first time that PN have an Indian majority Party (who is effectively an Indian proxy of BERSATU and PAS) in their ranks - hoping to mobilise the Indians to vote for PN in the byelection. There was also URIMAI that formed, led by former Penang Deputy Chief Minister: Ramasamy, who called for Indians to cease Indian support for the Unity Government, and DAP.
The last issue is about continuity. The Unity Government, especially DAP leaders painted Pang as Lee's successor. You could see it during the campaign where there was a large campaign poster, depicting Lee and Pang fist-bumping - indirectly telling voters that “This is who Lee has chosen to be her successor if she died; this is who you should trust.”
Interpretation of Results
After the declaration of results, I quickly went on X (formerly Twitter) to find all the statistics relating to the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election to prepare writing for this article, and this is what I found from Sim Tze Tzin's (PKR's MP for Bayan Baru, Penang) tweet:
Disclaimer: This is only an estimation from all polling stations. This does not accurately reflect who voted for which party as the vote is always secret.
With that being said; PH outpaced PN in all races, with the most notable being a 10.2% increase in the Indian Vote, from the Selangor State Election which happened a year ago. PH also increased the percentage share of their votes among Malay voters too, which outpaced even the PN vote (3.7% vs 0.8%). Both strong support bases came out to support their own candidates (ardent PH supporters turned up to support PH, and ardent PN supporters turned up).
Final Thoughts
This was a great victory for Nga Kor Ming. I was very skeptical whether Pang would win this emphatically. I thought that this was Nga Kor Ming's doing (it very well could be) to elevate his own political interests in DAP - possibly to prove himself but lose voters in the by-election as a process of DAP Selangor letting him get his way.
This was also a victory for the unity government. Not only did they gain in the percentage of voters across all races, they received 250 votes less for their majority - despite turnout falling from 68.27% in the state election to 60.83% in this election. This shows that the people buy into the image that Pang is Lee's successor - paving the way to implement and carry on the good work that Lee has done for the community until her death.
What the future is for the Unity Government nationally in Putrajaya and statewide in Shah Alam remains to be seen - but one thing is for sure: If they do not perform well, voters will turn their backs on them.
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