Najib courts Penang folk in two-day Chinese New Year visit

Najib shakes hand with locals at the Gurney Drive food court during his short stroll along the popular promenade on February 10, 2013. — Picture by K.E. Ooi

GEORGE TOWN, Feb 11 — As Election 2013 looms, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s two-day visit here culminates in a massive Barisan Nasional (BN) Chinese New Year open house at the Han Chiang school field today, featuring South Korean rapper Psy.

In what is seen as a concentrated effort to sway Penang voters and recapture the state, the prime minister’s visit came on the heels of his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s visit, who was here for a day last week.

This is Najib’s second visit to this state in two months, the last on December 8, when he promised to resolve the state’s traffic and housing woes, with a monorail system and 20,000 units of affordable housing.

He kicked off his visit here yesterday with a closed-door meeting with local Chinese community leaders, business community leaders, non-governmental organisations and state BN liaison committee members at Traders Hotel in the evening.

Later, he feted the local media fraternity with a media night which, according to state BN information chief Tan Cheng Liang, was hastily arranged when the decision to hold it was made last Friday.

Representatives from 16 media organisations, including the online media, attended the event where Najib thanked everyone for spending the first day of Chinese New Year with him.

His two-day visit here, especially on the first two days of Chinese New Year, can be seen as his effort to draw more support from the Chinese community in a state where more than 50 per cent of its residents are ethnic Chinese, particularly on the island. 

“Penang is important for us. It is one of our jewels and there is still a lot that we can do in Penang,” Najib has said in his brief speech during the media night at G Hotel.

“I want to send a message to the Chinese community that I am willing to engage with the Chinese community, this is why I learn to beat the drums,” he said, referring to an unconventional Chinese New Year commercial where Najib was featured beating a set of Chinese drums.

He reassured the Chinese community that he respected the Chinese culture and that it should be respected just like the Indian and Malay cultures.

“This is the underpinning value of 1 Malaysia where all will feel a sense of belonging to the country, so the people need not fear 1 Malaysia,” Najib said.

Najib and Penang BN leaders savour the local fare at the Gurney Drive food court in Penang on February 10, 2013.

After the dinner, the BN chairman proceeded for a short stroll along the popular Gurney Drive promenade while handing out ang pows to the public before partaking in the local hawker fare at the famed Gurney Drive hawker centre.

Though the focus of his visit here seemed to be an effort to woo the local ethnic Chinese voters, Najib also attended a Maulidur Rasul celebration at the Masjid Kapitan Keling after his visit to Gurney Drive.

The Umno president also tried the famous Nasi Kandar Beratur, which is located next to the Masjid Kapitan Keling. Hundreds line up nightly for what is seen as Penang’s signature dish.

According to Paya Terubong MCA co-ordinator Koh Wan Leong, the fact Najib chose to spend the first two days of Chinese New Year in Penang showed that he wanted to get down to the ground and be with the people here.

“He wants to share the joyfulness of this festive season with Penangites and he wants today’s big celebration to be a huge success,” he said.

Later today, at the Chinese New Year open house, up to 80,000 people are expected to turn up for the event which will feature K-pop sensation Psy, who is well-known for his viral hit song “Oppa Gangnam Style”.

Najib will first attend the Penang Chinese Town Hall’s Chinese New Year open house in town this morning before he joins the BN’s celebration at around 10.45am.

Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, will be performing two songs at around noon.

There will be a buffet line enough for 50,000 people and the event is free for the public.

BN has been going all out to recapture Penang ever since Pakatan Rakyat took over the state’s administration after it won 29 of the 40 state seats in 2008, effectively wiping out BN component parties Gerakan, the MCA and MIC, and leaving only 11 Umno seats.

This time around, BN hopes not only to regain some of the seats but to win back the state with Muhyiddin stating that it was not impossible for the coalition to win back even if it was not easy.

It is the reason the party chose to hold the open house on the very grounds where the massive Pakatan Rakyat rally was held in 2008 that eventually led it to winning the state in a landslide victory.

Party insiders had believed that the open house will sway more voters to BN but what remains to be seen is whether Penang folk will show up in green, yellow and red as encouraged by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to represent the environment, Bersih for clean elections and Penang respectively.

Analysts have so far predicted that Pakatan Rakyat will retain the state as many Penang folk are happy with the current administration and its many social programmes.