The Pulai parliamentary seat and Simpang Jeram state seat elections were won by Amanah, a partner in the incumbent coalition unity government. However, it must be noted that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates in both by-elections won over a significant number of voters, more than in the 15th General Election (GE15) last November.

Suhaizan Kaiyat won the Pulai parliamentary constituency with 48,283 votes and an 18,641 majority compared to his predecessor former Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, also from Amanah, who had won the seat in GE15 with 64,900 votes and a 33,174 majority. The Pulai by-election was called after Salahuddin’s death on July 23.

The PN candidate, Zulkifli Jaafar, gained 29,642 votes compared to the PN GE15 candidate who got 20,677 votes.

In the Simpang Jeram state election, the Amanah candidate, Nazri Abdul Rahman, won with 13,844 votes compared to the PN candidate Dr Mohd Mazri Yahya’s 10,330 votes. In GE15, the PN candidate won 6,350 votes.

In both these two by-elections, although the PN candidates lost, they gained more votes than in GE15. But voter turnout was low which means there was a whole lot of votes out there for the taking that PN did not reach.

It is clear that the PN strategy that worked up north successfully did not work fully in Johor. By now PN should realise that a different strategy is needed to appeal to the more urban voters south of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. It must also realise that in this large swathe of land, relying on the Malay votes will be insufficient to get a majority to form a government. PN also needs the non-Malay vote.

Telling voters that it is haram (forbidden) to vote for a candidate of Pakatan Harapan (PH) of which Amanah is a member and focussing on the Malay first strategy will turn off more urban voters — Malays included — than attract them.

In the subsequent elections, PN needs to find suitable candidates who can connect with the voter base in the urban areas. They should keep away from religious issues and discuss them in other forums like the mosques unless it involves the whole or a significant segment of society.

Since PH has abandoned the reform agenda, PN should pick up the slack and aggressively capitalize on reform-worthy issues and be determined to deliver once elected to office. PN candidates must show that he/she can handle urban issues with more open-mindedness.

Once, PN learns to connect with the urban voter base, it will appear more attractive to the whole bunch of voters out there disenchanted with the status quo — non-Malays included — and it can not but win elections.

If PN does not fill the vacuum in the urban areas for a responsible, credible, constitution-upholding and others-sensitive alternative choice, it will only make a dent in the PH strongholds in Selangor, Negri Sembilan (supported by a strong Umno presence) and Penang and Umno-led governments in Perak, Pahang, Malacca and Johor.

To win PN must become less parochial Malay and more open-minded Malaysian Malay and confidently inclusive while remaining true to its own struggles.