SENAI: The atmosphere was solemn and gloomy at Pakatan Harapan’s command centre here as the string of defeats continued for DAP, its former seats falling – Yong Peng, Bekok, Paloh and Pekan Nanas were lost.

       One of the most closely watched seats was Yong Peng, the bellwether of how the Chinese vote was going. Chinese voters make up the majority with 59.58%, followed by Malays (33.32%) and Indians (6.75%).

       Initially, DAP’s Alan Tee was neck-and-neck with MCA’s Ling Tian Soon but by 8pm, it was clear that the seat had fallen to MCA.

       Unofficially, Ling managed to garner 9,682 votes against Tee’s 7,028 votes, while Perikatan Nasional’s Susan Yong only managed to get 1,601 votes.

       In GE14, Ling had lost to the DAP candidate, who gained a 5,089 majority in a three-cornered fight.

       The opposition party also suffered a huge defeat in Pekan Nanas as unofficial results indicated that its candidate Yeo Tung Siong only garnered 6,050 votes against MCA’s Tan Eng Meng’s 10,805.

       Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) Hishamuddin Busri got 2,622 votes and Perikatan Nasional’s Datuk Tan Chin Hock had 1,371 votes.

       MCA had won by a whopping 4,755 majority. In GE14, DAP’s Yeo won with a 1,308 majority.

       Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, said it was surprising that Barisan had won Pekan Nanas and Yong Peng with such large majorities.

       He said the opposition’s lacklustre performance was due to the dissatisfaction between PKR and DAP grassroots, as DAP leaders had consistently criticised Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership.

       “Maybe there was some form of boycott. Something has to be done by Pakatan as a whole,” he added.

       Azmi said Opposition votes going to Warisan and Pejuang also contributed to DAP’s poor performance.

       “Melaka was devastating for DAP and I think Sarawak hurt DAP even more. Now in Johor, just looking at these two seats – Pekan Nanas and Yong Peng – reflects the overall Johor election result,” said Azmi.

       He added that the results in the two seats might indicate a swing of Chinese votes, but that could only be ascertained once official figures were released.

       “Relative to GE14, I think there was some swing of Chinese votes to Barisan, but we need to look at the percentage of the swing. I’m sure Chinese voters who did not vote for Barisan in GE14 voted for the coalition this time around,” said Azmi.

       Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said if the Pakatan Harapan component parties continued to be divided, the defeats would continue not just for DAP, but also for PKR and Amanah.

       “The outcome of the Johor state election will be repeated in the 15th general election,” he said.

       Other observers have also attributed Pakatan Harapan’s lacklustre results towards disunity, which was evident when PKR decided to use its own logo in the election, while DAP and Amanah used Pakatan’s logo.