JOHOR BARU: No fewer than seven state leaders of various political parties fared badly, with three losing their deposits in the Johor election.

       These include Johor Parti Bangsa Malaysia chief Steven Choong, who contested in Puteri Wangsa and garnered only 2,471 votes, followed by Johor Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chief Datuk Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh – the Sri Gading MP and a former deputy minister who only got 465 votes in the four-cornered fight for the Machap seat.

       Another leader who lost his deposit was Johor Parti Bumiputra Pesaka Malaysia (Putra) chief Datuk Kamarolzaman Mohd Jidi, who only obtained 247 votes in Semerah.

       Others who lost but kept their deposits were Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Hussin (Pulai Sebatang), Johor Bersatu affiliate wing (non-Malays) chief Dr Chong Fat Full (Tangkak), Johor Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) chief Azrol Rahani (Bukit Permai) and Johor Amanah chief Aminolhuda Hassan (Parit Yaani).

       Dr Chong said the Opposition’s dismal performance was not unexpected as they failed to unite.

       “We should not be shifting blame on low voter turnout. Barisan Nasional won big despite only getting 43.11% of the total number of votes. The other opposition parties got 56.89% of the votes.

       He noted that there were last-minute attempts to get the Opposition together but some leaders felt their parties were strong and wanted to fly solo at the polls.

       “Look at what happened. Many lost their deposit. Everyone has been bruised. It is time to come and negotiate realistically,” he said.

       According to Dr Chong, Perikatan Nasional got 24% of the votes while Pakatan Harapan got 20.5% and PKR 5.9%.

       He noted that Pejuang, which contested 42 seats, only got 1.3% of the total votes.

       He said if the Opposition did not unite under the “big tent” concept, then it could expect a similar outcome in the next general election.

       Johor PAS commissioner Abdullah Husin said Perikatan would be doing a post-mortem to find out what went wrong.

       He, however, said the state election result was not sad and gloomy for PAS as the party had never failed to send a representative to the Johor state assembly since 2004.

       “This is a good track record and I believe we can build on this foundation,” he said, noting that PAS had won the Maharani state seat.

       The Election Commission will be getting about RM425,000 after 85 of the 239 candidates failed to garner enough votes to get their deposits back.

       Pejuang topped the list after losing a total of RM210,000 for failing to secure 12.5% of votes in all of the 42 seats it contested in.

       Others which lost their deposits are Pakatan with 11 seats including seven from PKR and four from Amanah, Parti Warisan (six seats), Bersatu (two), PAS (one) and Gerakan (one), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (four), Parti Socialist Malaysia (one) and Putra (one).

       All 16 independent candidates also lost all their deposits.

       The coalitions or parties which did not lose any deposits include Barisan, DAP and Muda.