Malaysia Edition: Tussle for Felda vote bank | Music festival canned over LGBTQ furore

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The race is on to woo the Malay-Muslim electorate, which forms the country’s key vote bank that could well decide the outcome in three swing states of Kedah, Terengganu and Selangor in the upcoming state elections on Aug 12.

The vote in six of Malaysia’s 13 states is being widely billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government of once-bitter foes. So his federal administration has wasted no time in courting Felda farmers with a RM8 billion (S$2.4 billion)  debt write-off for over 112,000 multigenerational rural Malay families that have settled in government plantation schemes nationwide. 

This move is also aimed at countering the influence of opposition alliance Perikatan Nasional, which won the lion’s share of Malay support in November’s general election and has claimed that it was its chief Muhyiddin Yassin who implemented the debt write-off when he was prime minister.

Ruling parties have also targeted popular Parti Islam SeMalaysia leader Sanusi Md Nor, Kedah’s caretaker chief minister, whose entertaining brand of political speeches has led to accusations he insulted Selangor’s ruler. 

Follow ST’s coverage as we continue to bring you the latest developments and thank you for reading The Straits Times.