00:00Analysts say issues of race, religion and royalty will likely dominate the Ayakunin
00:07by-election with the recent Hindu temple dispute and a slapping incident in Johor expected
00:12to take centre stage.
00:14P Siva Murugan of University Science Malaysia said both Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional
00:20are expected to leverage these issues to their advantage.
00:25He said each side will try to play up the issues for political mileage and the authorities
00:29will need to step in if sentiments escalate to prevent polarisation.
00:34Siva Murugan also pointed out that Indian voters make up approximately 14.3% of the
00:40electorate in Ayakuning, a state seat in the Tapah Parliamentary constituency of which
00:45M Saravanan is the MP.
00:47Meanwhile, Panir Selvam Jayaraman from the all-party parliamentary group Malaysia said
00:52Indian voters could play a decisive role given the split in the Malay vote between PN and
00:57BN.
00:58Controversy recently erupted after jago trading syndrome Berhad, which owns the land that
01:03houses the century-old Hindu temple on Jalan Masjid India, announced plans to demolish
01:08it for a new mosque.
01:11The issue was resolved after the temple's committee agreed to relocate to a site that
01:15Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said was a mere 50 metres away.
01:22Natasha Biest, FMT
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