This is despite the party winning the last two general elections, although its majority was almost halved in 2013.

Located within the constituency is a large military base whose personnel provided the Barisan Nasional (BN) with a “fixed deposit” of votes.

In 2013, there were more than 8,800 army ballots, up from about 5,000 in the June 2000 by-election.

It is commonly held that army votes went overwhelmingly to BN candidates, including in Telok Kemang.

For years, that “wall” was impenetrable, and it ensured BN candidates were returned in election after election since the seat was created in 1974.

MIC represented the constituency from the start and its candidates won with large majorities that reached as high as over 20,000 votes.

As for the opposition, DAP contested the seat from 1974 until 1999, when the opposition fielded Ruslan Kassim, a former Umno strongman in the area who had quit the party in the wake of the reformasi movement in 1998.

Ruslan contested under Parti Keadilan Nasional, the precursor to present-day PKR.

It was only in the 2008 general election that the opposition finally pierced the BN “wall” in Telok Kemang, when PKR’s Kamarul Bahrin Abbas defeated MIC’s Sothinathan Siena Gounder by a 2,804-vote majority.

Kamarul retained the seat for PKR in 2013, against BN’s Mogan Velayatham, with a lower margin of 1,579 votes.

In the coming 14th general election, PKR will be keeping a wary eye on the “fixed deposit” votes in the military base.

Negeri Sembilan PKR chairman Aminuddin Harun said they now face another “wall” – party workers are barred from entering the army camp to bring the opposition message.

“We have had to prepare for the polls early by tapping into the support of the rest of the constituents,” he told FMT.