BN faces uphill battle in Penang

While the state BN chairman is encouraged by the strong spirit shown by state leaders, taking back the state, he concedes, will not be an easy task.

GEORGE TOWN: Barisan Nasional admitted today that it will face an uphill battle to unseat the Penang Pakatan Rakyat administration in the next state election.

In expressing a rational view of the state political undercurrents, BN state chairman Koh Tsu Koon predicted that the coalition has the mobility and capacity to perform better in Penang than in the 2008 general election.

He also said that BN was ever ready to face either an early or late state election in Penang.

Koh said he has been encouraged by the strong spirit shown by BN state leaders and members to bounce back from the electoral debacle three years ago.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Unity and Performance, however, refused to be drawn into measuring BN’s chances to regain the lost state government.

“I don’t want to predict our chances in the state election. I must admit BN faces a tough and uphill task in Penang.

“Although signs are encouraging, but generally the voters’ mood is not really favouring BN,” he told a press conference during a break at the BN state convention here.

Also present were state BN deputy chairman and Umno chairman Zainal Abidin Osman, MIC chairman Senator PK Subbaiyah, Gerakan and BN working committee chairman Dr Teng Hock Nan, PPP chairman Loga Bala Mohan and MCA secretary Lau Chiek Tuan.

‘Encouraged by fighting spirit’

However, Koh is optimistic that BN could perform better than three years ago.
“I am encouraged by the fighting spirit and cohesiveness shown by state leaders and grassroots members,” he said.

In the 2008 general election, Pakatan won 29 of the 40 state seats to displace BN as the new state government, helmed by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as chief minister.

Other 11 seats were all won by Umno, leaving Gerakan, MCA and MIC without a single seat.
Gerakan president Koh, the out-going chief minister then, was trounced by a 9,485-vote margin in his parliamentary duel with newcomer P Ramasamy in Batu Kawan.

This time though, BN believes that it has a good chance of winning back seats that were lost by less than 1,500-vote majority in 2008.

But on the cautionary note, local leaders are concerned that BN could also lose seats it won with less than 500 votes.

All seats in Balik Pulau constituency, Batu Uban, Seberang Jaya and Sungai Acheh state seats come under this equation.

Koh said currently BN plans to reach out to grassroots voters to understand and address their needs and demands.

Asked whether BN was ready to face an earlier than expected state election before the parliamentary election, he said: “From what I have read and observed, Pakatan’s strategy is to delay the state polls after the parliamentary election.”

“But we are ready for the state election, either before or after the parliamentary election,” he added.