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Just days before the recently concluded Johor state election, a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Perling constituency gained widespread attention on social media.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t because he said something controversial or anything politically groundbreaking.
MIC’s P. Pannir Selvam caught the public’s eye because of this photo published by local news daily Utusan Malaysia:
Malaysians noticed, and they nicknamed
The photo of Pannir Selvam quickly spread across social media, with many pointing out the BN candidate’s dark circles under his eyes.
While some expressed concern over his health and questioned whether he has been having trouble with sleep, others couldn’t help but to offer him nicknames like “Panda” or “Batman”.
Pannir Selvam took the comments in stride, though. After the election was over, he spent some time on Threads and left this reply on one post: “I am actually… Zorro”.
In case anyone is wondering, Zorro is a fictional masked vigilante created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnson McCulley. Among the actors who played the famous character on the big screen was Antonio Banderas in The Mask Of Zorro (1998).
He actually won the Perling seat
After the dust had settled on polling day last Saturday (11 July), Pannir Selvam emerged victorious and won the Perling constituency with 33,468 votes. He defeated Pakatan Harapan’s Alan Tee (31,857 votes) and Bersama’s Boo Wei Han (2,996 votes).
Barisan Nasional won the 16th Johor state election by a landslide, securing 48 seats against Pakatan Harapan, which only managed eight.
According to the Election Commission (EC), more than 1.8 million or 68.7% of Johoreans turned up to vote at at this year’s state election, which included early, postal, and regular voters.
This election saw a much higher voter turnout than the last one in 2022, which was only 54.2% at the end of the polling day.
The lower participation was most likely due to Malaysia only just emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.
Negeri Sembilan is the next state to go to the polls this 1 August, 2026.
READ MORE: Rain Or Shine, Johoreans Showed Up To Vote – Higher Turnout Than 2022
READ MORE: Johor Gives BN Bigger Mandate, Decision To Fly Solo Pays Off
READ MORE: BERSAMA Loses Every Deposit In Johor — Rafizi Calls It A Learning Curve
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From Zorro To Batman: MIC Man Embraces Social Media Nicknames
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