KUALA LUMPUR – PKR vice-president Datuk Seri R. Ramanan has brushed aside former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming’s forecast for the Negeri Sembilan state election, saying a single accurate prediction does not make someone a consistently reliable election forecaster.
Responding to Ong’s projection that Pakatan Harapan (PH) could secure between 11 and 13 seats, with PKR expected to win only one constituency, Ramanan compared the prediction to a fortune teller making multiple guesses.
“To me, sometimes you go to a fortune teller and you ask for a 4D number. The fortune teller tells 1,000 people 1,000 different numbers. The one who strikes the number, they will say this fortune teller is the best,” he said after attending an event in Senawang.
He said Ong’s successful prediction in the Johor state election should not be taken as proof that he will be right again in Negeri Sembilan, adding that just because he got one prediction, it “does not make him Nostradamus.”
“Yes, you got it right one time, and that doesn’t mean you are going to be predicting everything right all the time,” he added.
He also rejected comparisons between the political dynamics in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, saying PH had already identified Johor as a challenging battleground, while the situation in Negeri Sembilan was different.
“We knew Johor was a difficult battleground. It’s not the same in Negeri Sembilan,” he said.
Ong, a former DAP member, had earlier predicted that Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) were likely to win a majority of the 36 seats contested in the Negeri Sembilan election.
He forecast that BN and PN could capture between 23 and 25 seats, allowing the two coalitions to form the next state government after polling day on Aug 1.
Ong said PH, which is contesting all seats in the election, was expected to win between 11 and 13 seats, with PKR potentially securing one seat while the remaining victories would likely go to DAP.
Meanwhile, Ramanan also responded to claims by People’s Progressive Party (MyPPP) president Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan that Indian voters were supporting BN, saying such claims should be assessed based on public feedback rather than political statements.
“He can say that. But when we look at the contributions from their programmes, it doesn’t show that,” he said.
Ramanan said a planned engagement between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Indian community would provide a clearer indication of voter sentiment.
“We will have a meeting tomorrow between the Indian community and the Prime Minister. During that session, we will look at the support and how the Indian voters are supporting the Prime Minister and PH,” he explained.
Loga had claimed that BN remained the only coalition capable of bringing meaningful reforms for the Indian community.
He also alleged that the community continued to face discrimination and marginalisation under the unity government, with recent disputes involving Hindu temples adding to concerns among Indian voters. – July 28, 2026