PSM erred, M'sians voted party and not candidates

INTERVIEW Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) performed badly in the May 5 general election, winning just one of the four seats it contested, because it was banking on Malaysians voting for individual candidates, instead of along party lines.

"We were expecting the people to vote according to the individual. But when it came to a three-cornered fight, the voters tended to pick the bigger party in the battle," said PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

In this case, such as in the state seats of Semenyih and Kota Damansara in Selangor and Jelapang in Perak, they picked Pakatan Rakyat-member candidates, knowing that the opposition coalition had a much better chance of forming the next federal government if it did well.
Umno won Semenyih and Kota Damansara - where PSM chairperson Nasir Hashim failed to retain his seat - due to the split opposition votes between Pakatan and PSM, while DAP was triumphant in Jelapang.
PSM contested one parliamentary seat and one state seat under the PKR logo and two other state seats using its controversial clenched-fist logo.
It lost all the seats contested, except for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in Perak, which Dr Michael Jeyakumar retained on a PKR ticket.

"There were many people who supported us and came forward after the elections to wish us well, but admitted that when it came to voting, they had on choice but to vote Pakatan as their desire for a change in government was strong," Arutchelvan said.

The PSM secretary-general was locked in a three-cornered battle for the Semenyih seat because of PKR's refusal to make way for him to contest one-on-one against BN.
However, Arutchelvan said, the number of votes he garnered was proof that PSM's relevance among grassroots was increasing.

"For a third party to pull in more than 5,000 votes in its direction is quite an achievement. Normally, the third party pulls only a few hundred votes," he said.
'We put socialism back on the map'

After the election, PSM's membership base increased by at least 200 members, which he described as a high number, considering that party's small base of 14,000 members was proof that many more were joining the party because of its ideology.

"People say we are a great party, but we lack in branding and presentation. We need help in improving that," he said.

PSM was also beginning to raise various issues of national concern so that it would no longer be perceived as a party that fights for welfare of estate workers, which was something PSM had widely championed since its early years.

"We have put socialism back on the map in Malaysia," he added.

According to Arutchelvan, Pakatan's inability to pull in rural votes was the reason for its failure to capture Putrajaya, while pointing out that the opposition pact also did lose some Malay votes, compared with the 2008 general election.

"Even in Sungai Siput, there were some Malay votes lost," he said.

In order to address the issue, Pakatan should start working in the rural constituencies far earlier than campaign day.

"They must work harder at the grassroots level," Arutchelvan said, while quipping that massive rallies that have of late been organised by the opposition were only attracting urban voters.