SHAH ALAM, 21 Feb: Umno supporters are increasingly showing up in the small-scale meetings that Anwar’s team organises with residents such as at coffee shops and tazkirah (small discussions after the evening prayers).

The presence of Umno members who stay on to listen to Anwar at these meetings bode well for PKR’s aim of retaining the seat¸ said one of the managers in Anwar’s campaign, Mohd Yahya Saari.

Although official campaigning has yet to start, PKR chief and Kajang by-election candidate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is starting to make inroads among the Malay voters who have traditionally sided with Barisan Nasional.

“We were quite surprised that they came. And that they stayed on until the end to hear Anwar speak,” said Yahya, quoted from The Malaysian Insider.

Anwar’s visits to the Malay villages and residential areas in Batu 10 Cheras and Kampung Sungai Kantan in the constituency also fit into what PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli alluded to in a past interview.

That Selangor Pakatan Rakyat, as a whole, needs to inoculate Malay Muslims against what it believes are increasing racial and religious provocations during the coalition’s second term ruling the state.

“They seem to be quite bothered with how insular Umno has become. They feel that the party nowadays seems to only care for Malays instead of in the past, when the party was more open to all the communities,” said Yahya.

In UMCEDEL’s latest survey of the Kajang constituency, 69% of respondents felt that the rise in the cost of living would drive support towards Pakatan Rakyat.

In the last general election, Lee garnered 19,571 votes, to win by a 6,824 votes. BN’s Lee Ban Seng obtained 12,747 votes while Mohamad Ismail of Berjasa got 1,014 votes.