Pakatan Harapan (PH) failed to retain support among Malay voters in the Negeri Sembilan state election, with all 22 of its Malay candidates losing the seats they contested.
Official results showed Barisan Nasional (BN) emerging as the biggest winner with 18 of the 36 state seats, followed by PH with 11 seats and Perikatan Nasional (PN) with seven, allowing BN and PN to form the new state government.
When PH unveiled its line-up on Aug 1, the coalition fielded 36 candidates, including a mix of new faces and experienced leaders from PKR, DAP and Amanah. Of those, 22 were Malay candidates.
However, none of the Malay candidates managed to secure victory, meaning all 11 seats won by PH were captured by non-Malay candidates.
Among the high-profile Malay candidates defeated were former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun (Linggi), Datuk Muhammad Nazri Kassim (Ampangan), Datuk Bakri Sawir (Klawang), Datuk Noorzunita Begum Mohd Ibrahim (Pilah), Mohd Aidil Abdullah (Juasseh) and several others.
PH’s winning candidates were all non-Malay representatives, including Teo Kok Seong (Bahau), J Arul Kumar (Nilai), Chew Seh Yong (Lobak), Ho Weng Wah (Temiang), Nicol Tan Lee Koon (Bukit Kepayang), Siau Meow Kong (Rahang), Lee Kai Yet (Mambau), Choo Ken Hwa (Lukut), S Mugunthan (Seremban Jaya), Yew Boon Lye (Chuah) and Dr G Rajassekaran (Sri Tanjung).
One of the biggest upsets was the defeat of Aminuddin Harun, who had served as Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar for two terms from 2018 until the dissolution of the state assembly this year.
Aminuddin, who is also PKR vice-president and Negeri Sembilan PKR chairman, had long been regarded as one of PH’s most influential leaders in the state. PH’s decision to field him in Linggi was widely viewed as a strategy to capitalise on his leadership experience and administrative record to retain Malay voter support.
Another notable casualty was Datuk Noorzunita Begum Mohd Ibrahim, the incumbent assemblywoman for Pilah and one of PKR’s senior female leaders in Negeri Sembilan.
Despite defending the seat she won in the 2023 state election, Noorzunita was also defeated, suggesting that incumbency alone was no longer enough to secure voter support.
The defeats of Aminuddin and Noorzunita have been seen as a sign that PH not only struggled to attract support for new Malay candidates but also failed to retain backing for established leaders with governing experience.
Political observers are expected to closely examine the results as PH seeks to rebuild support among Malay-majority constituencies in Negeri Sembilan.
While the coalition maintained its presence in several urban and semi-urban seats through victories by its non-Malay candidates, the complete defeat of its Malay candidates is likely to become a key focus of post-election analysis, particularly in evaluating PH’s candidate selection, campaign strategy and messaging.
The voting trend may also offer an early indication of the political landscape ahead of the 16th General Election (GE16), where support from Malay voters is expected to remain a decisive factor in determining the outcome.
