GE14 | Pakatan Harapan may just have overestimated its strategy to make inroads into one of the last remaining BN strongholds in Selangor - Sungai Besar.

Days before nomination day, Umno man Muslimin Yahya made an unexpected defection to Bersatu and was swiftly made the coalition’s candidate for the seat, sending shockwaves to all, including the BN election machinery there.

While not a household name in national politics, he is well-known and well-respected among the tight-knit Malay community in Sungai Besar, as all locals told Malaysiakini when asked.

Popularly known as “Cikgu Muslimin” (Teacher Muslimin), the former teacher once worked as an officer in the Education Department before he was handpicked to be private secretary to late three-term Sungai Besar MP Noriah Kasnon.

Up until his defection, he was an Umno Sungai Besar committee member and part of caretaker deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s staff...