PETALING JAYA, April 21 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin served as an Umno lawmaker in Pagoh over seven terms before he was sacked from the party.

Now, the former deputy prime minister turned Opposition leader is banking on these old ties in the town, where he is credited as having developed its agricultural sector, centred around an industrial part and education hub, over the past 20 years.

The Straits Times reported that the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president drew a crowd of 3,000 supporters on Thursday night when he announced that he will contest the seat again, this time as part of Pakatan Harapan (H) and on a PKR ticket.

"Johor has been called an Umno fortress. But issues that caused people to suffer have made Johor no longer an Umno fortress.” he told the crowd.

Muhyiddin was first elected as MP in the federal seat in 1978 and maintained his momentum four decades later, having held it with a majority of 13,432 votes in 2013 and hopes to retain his ability to draw voters on May 9, after having switched sides.

Sacked in 2015 after disagreements with the Cabinet over issues relating to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the 70-year-old went on to found PPBM with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The party is now one of four components of the PH coalition, the others being DAP, PKR and Amanah, but its own days are numbered as it was provisionally deregistered earlier this month.

Having been credited with the creation of job opportunities with the industrial park, which includes dozens of factories, he is also responsible for the area’s RM1 billion education hub, the area’s biggest development project, which is expected to create 25,000 more jobs.

Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak has sought to eclipse this, reminding residents of his administration’s efforts for the Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail link that will go through the area and bring a significant economic boost when it is completed in 2026.

Long seen to being an Umno stronghold, PH is banking on unhappiness over rising costs to swing voters over to its side, promising a slew of measures to address the issue and others upon its victory.

Some villagers also told The Straits Times of their dissatisfaction with some government policies, chiefly the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implemented in 2015, among others.

BN Pagoh division secretary Asrap Mokhtar admitted that while locals were tepid towards his party, BN’s election campaign aimed to counter that by addressing their concerns.



"We campaign with the party’s name, not an individual’s name. Response has been good,” he said.

Outside of Pagoh, however, BN holds an impressive lead, holding 20 of the 26 parliamentary seats and 37 of the 56 state assembly seats in Johor.



Whether Muhyiddin’s popularity and voter discontent in this one town translate into a sea change in the BN fortress of Johor, however, remains to be seen.



"(Muhyiddin) has name recognition among the Malay voters and a good understanding of the local Johor political landscape,” according to KRA Group’s political analyst Amir Fareed Rahim.

Still, he conceded that it was unlikely that Muhyiddin alone would be able to change the minds of longstanding BN supporters in the state.