Scary stories for Johor BN

"It's too quiet that it scares me."

That's what my friend said to me during dinner last night.

He was talking about the current atmosphere of campaigning in Johor as compared to what it was during the last election five years ago.

My friend was part of the team working for then MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman during the BN's defence of Johor in 2013.

He is still politically active and knows quite a bit of what were happening on the ground in the state.

"I have a bad feeling about all these. Things are so subdued that we can't really gauge the real general sentiment," he said.

My friend said it was foolish for the people of current MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin to be too optimistic as some of them have predicted that Johor BN will perform better in this coming election than it did in 2013.

"What are the basis for them to say that? What had Khaled done over the past five years which was better than what Ghani did before that? Tell me a single thing that Khaled had done which is his own initiative from the start.

"Sometimes I feel that these people simply said all the positive stuff just to make themselves feel and look better," he said.

My friend also cautioned me not to make assumptions based on only what I saw on the surface of things.

"For instance, that day you went to Kukup and you said  you saw BN flags all over the place. Do you know that those flags may not necessarily meant as an indicator of support for the BN candidate for the Kukup state seat but instead only meant support for the Tanjong Piai parliamentary candidate?"

A picture I took at the Chinese coastal village of Kampung Air Masin in Kukup. The small green structure on the right is the village public toilet. It's very clean like the rest of the village.

He said Datuk Mohd Othman Yusoff aka Tok Moy, who was named as BN candidate for Kukup and rumoured to replace Khaled as MB may even lose.

Tok Moy is up against former Pas Youth chief Suhaizan Kayat who is now with Amanah.

"Don't be surprised if only Wee Jeck Seng survives in Tanjong Piai. Tok Moy and the MCA candidate for Pekan Nenas (the other state seat in Tajung Piai) may lose," said my friend.

He said things have changed a lot on the ground in Tanjung Piai.

"If you don't believe me, go and stay in Serkat a few days, mix with the people there and you will know what I'm talking about," he said in reference to a village known to be an Umno stronghold in Kukup, Tanjong Piai.

I told my friend in jest that what he said may actually be good news for the Khaled team because if Tok Moy falls in Kukup, then Khaled could remains as MB.

"What if Khaled also falls in Pasir Gudang or Permas or both?" he shot back.

I asked him whether he is so sure that BN will do that badly in Johor.

"Almost my entire family, whom you know to be hardcore Umno have switched sides. That's how bad it is," he said.

"And they don't make much noise over it except for the nasty messages about BN that they wrote in our family's WhatsApp group."

"That's why it's actually scary."

I asked my friend for his prediction and he said he is expecting BN to lose between 12 and 16  of the 26 parliamentary seats in Johor.

Pakatan currently have only six parliamentary seats in Johor.

"What about the state government?" I asked further.

"If BN loses only 12 parliamentary seats, it may likely retains the state government, but if it's 16, then the whole thing may collapses as well," he replied.

I asked again how sure he was about such a scenario.

"Well, I know for sure that we are going to lose at least Segamat, Labis, Tebrau and even Pulai. Yes, your Jazlan is in serious trouble in Pulai," he said.

Well, that's indeed scary....for Johor BN.

They simply have to work harder over the coming days before the polls and prove my friend wrong.

And by that I'm not talking about just hoisting party flags.