1998 Arau by-election

1998 Arau by-election

← 1995 4 July 1998 1999 →
Arau seat in the Dewan Rakyat
BN Candidate Hashim Jasin Ismail Kassim Party PAS BN (UMNO) Popular vote 12,864 11,541 Percentage 52.71% 47.29%
Arau MP before election Kamaruddin Ahmad BN (UMNO) Elected Arau MP Hashim Jasin PAS

The 1998 Arau by-election is a by-election for the Dewan Rakyat federal seat of Arau, Malaysia that were held on 4 July 1998.^[1] It was called following the death of the incumbent, Kamaruddin Ahmad on 25 May 1998.^[2]

Kamaruddin Ahmad were elected to the Parliament of Malaysia federal seat of Arau at the 1995 Malaysian general election, winning the seat as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate. He also were a member of Perlis State Legislative Assembly for Sanglang from 1978 until 1986.

On 25 May 1998, Kamaruddin died at Kangar Hospital, after being rushed there by his wife following a stroke attack while he were playing badminton.^[2][3] His death means that his Arau federal seat were vacated, and necessitates for by-election to be held, as the seat were vacated more that 2 years before the expiry of Malaysian parliament current terms.^[3][4] Election Commission of Malaysia announced on 3 June 1998 that the by-election for the seat will be held on 4 July 1998, with 24 June 1998 set as the nomination day.^[5]

After nomination closed, it was confirmed that BN will face Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in a straight fight for the Arau seat.^[6] BN nominated Ismail Kassim, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) Arau division Youth chief, and the younger brother or Perlis Menteri Besar and Perlis UMNO and BN chief Shahidan Kassim, who announced Ismail's candidacy.^[7] PAS meanwhile nominated Hashim Jasin, the party's Perlis state commissioner.^[6]

Observers such as New Straits Times columnist A. Rahman Osman saw BN will win the by-election convincingly, and PAS can only hope to reduce the majority votes, as no other parties other than BN or its predecessor Alliance won the parliamentary seat in Perlis.^[8]

The key dates are listed below.

Malaysian general by-election, 4 July 1998: Arau
Upon the death of incumbent, Kamarudin Ahmad

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	PAS	Hashim Jasin	12,864	52.71	52.71
	BN	Ismail Kassim	11,541	47.29	16.24
Total valid votes			24,405	100.00
Total rejected ballots			344
Unreturned ballots			0
Turnout			24,749	70.27	6.24
Registered electors			35,221
Majority			1,323	5.42	21.64
	PAS gain from BN		Swing		?

Malaysian general election, 1995: Arau

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	BN	Kamarudin Ahmad	16,266	63.53	2.10
	S46	Saad @ Md. Zain Hamzah	9,337	36.47	36.47
Total valid votes			25,603	100.00
Total rejected ballots			891
Unreturned ballots			30
Turnout			26,524	76.51	0.91
Registered electors			34,667
Majority			6,929	27.06	4.20
	BN hold		Swing

Hashim did not defend the seat in the general election the next year; and BN won back the seat defeating another PAS candidate.

A retrospective view in 2018 by political analyst Md Shukri Shuib opines that Hashim's win in the by-election were 'lucky', and aided by BN's election machinery weakness and the people's view of the government way of tackling the 1997 Asian financial crisis in the country.^[9]