You got to hand it to Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Raja Nong Cik - the Umno man is one tenacious campaigner in his bid to unseat incumbent Nurul Izzah Anwar of PKR for the prized parliamentary seat of Lembah Pantai.
In some ways, this is the cynosure contest of the 13th general election, a conflict between spruced-up remnants of the Old Politics, represented by Nong Chik, against the New Politics, symbolised by Nurul Izzah.
Everything Nurul Izzah can do, Nong Chik wants to do - and do it better. Except perhaps at debating. We'll come to that in a while.
Things that she can't do, like get City Hall's low-cost flats in Kampong Kerichi repainted, the multi-millionaire politician-cum-federal minister not only gets City Hall to do that and if they can't, he gets the private sector to help out.
Nurul cannot hope to match him in Chinese New Year largesse: the other day, Nong Chik distributed a humongous 900 boxes of Mandarin oranges at Lucky Gardens in Bangsar.
Nurul had better not even try to distribute that ubiquitous emblem of CNY cheer: the inevitable shortfall would place her in unenviable straits.
Nurul would rather try the reverse tack in her campaign to keep the seat she won in the 2008 election when she beat Wanita Umno bigwig Shahrizat Abdul Jalil which can be summarised as: with me as incumbent and with our coalition not in power at the federal level, you can get more out of government by retaining me as MP.
It's a message that is not too subtle to get across to nearly 73,000 voters of a mainly middle and upper-middle class constituency in Kuala Lumpur.
Nurul's New Politics
The educated denizens of this mixed-race parliamentary ward have made their inclinations known by their support for several fundraising dinners that PKR had organised over the last few years for Nurul, in Bangsar and at the Thean Hou Temple, off neighbouring Klang Road.
The relative youth, multiracial composition and education of the diners at these affairs attested to the popularity of their MP.
Part of this popularity is attributable to her status as the daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the Pied Piper of political change in Malaysia.
Additionally, Nurul is seen as a representative of the New Politics in Malaysia, the politics that de-emphasises sectarian considerations in favour of nation-building ones, privileges the needs of the people over vested interests, and prioritises merit and excellence over mediocrity.
Though Nurul comes from a politically-connected family, she is not seen as having benefitted from inherited privilege.
Instead, she is seen as having paid a high psychic price for helping in part to shoulder the travails her father has had to endure since he was sacked from Umno and the government 15 years ago.
More than most, she is indeed what her boosters call her - ‘Puteri Reformasi' (Daughter of the Malaysian Spring).
Do-or-die mission
Raja Nong Chik is, in effect, the opposite of Nurul. His father was a top flight civil servant. Nong Chik lived in Bangsar from the time of his upper secondary school days in Victoria Institution and trained as an accountant in London before beginning his career in the corporate world and then in business in Kuala Lumpur.
He joined Umno and has been trying to win the Lembah Pantai division leadership several times but in vain because of the suzerainty exercised over it by Shahrizat whose hold over the division stemmed from her grip on the MP's slot for Lembah Pantai which she held since 1995 and had lubricated her entrée into the cabinet.
In spite of the odds, Nong Chik has been tenacious in his campaign to win the Lembah Pantai Umno division leadership; Shahrizat's defeat at the hands of Nurul in the 2008 election gave him the chance to ghost through the gap availed by the Wanita leader's toppling as MP.
Now, at the end of his second and final term as senator, he has to win the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat to solidify his hold on a cabinet position. In the process, the prized scalp of a PKR icon would be the icing on his cake.
Despite the aura of climbing unassisted up the divisional ranks in Umno, Nong Chik cannot shed the image that he is a scion of privilege and a beneficiary of the old way of doing business in this country.
A company belonging to his daughter was directly awarded a RM30 million contract by the Youth and Sports Ministry. Nong Cik claims that the contract was awarded in 2006 before he joined the cabinet.
The old ways
There are other aspects to his deportment or that of his campaign assistants that are indicative of the old way of doing things.
Banners and flags of PKR put up by Nurul's workers in Lembah Pantai have been removed or torn down by assorted toughs, even when these have been put up in the wee hours before dawn.
When surprised by PKR workers, the lads have reportedly let on that they have been paid to remove the stuff. ‘Cari Makan' (earning some bread), some sheepishly own up to their motives.
Nong Chik would give his case for election to the MP-ship of Lembah Pantai a big assist if he accepts Nurul's challenge to debate her.
That would be an instance in which a thing she can do, if he should prove better at, he would go a solid distance in shedding the aura of being a holdover, albeit spruced-up, of the old way of doing things.
It would be a surprise if he does accept the challenge to debate; he's too pre-packaged a remnant of the Old Politics to risk his mettle in the spontaneous cut-and-thrust of the New Politics.
In some ways, this is the cynosure contest of the 13th general election, a conflict between spruced-up remnants of the Old Politics, represented by Nong Chik, against the New Politics, symbolised by Nurul Izzah.
Everything Nurul Izzah can do, Nong Chik wants to do - and do it better. Except perhaps at debating. We'll come to that in a while.
Things that she can't do, like get City Hall's low-cost flats in Kampong Kerichi repainted, the multi-millionaire politician-cum-federal minister not only gets City Hall to do that and if they can't, he gets the private sector to help out.
Nurul cannot hope to match him in Chinese New Year largesse: the other day, Nong Chik distributed a humongous 900 boxes of Mandarin oranges at Lucky Gardens in Bangsar.Nurul had better not even try to distribute that ubiquitous emblem of CNY cheer: the inevitable shortfall would place her in unenviable straits.
Nurul would rather try the reverse tack in her campaign to keep the seat she won in the 2008 election when she beat Wanita Umno bigwig Shahrizat Abdul Jalil which can be summarised as: with me as incumbent and with our coalition not in power at the federal level, you can get more out of government by retaining me as MP.
It's a message that is not too subtle to get across to nearly 73,000 voters of a mainly middle and upper-middle class constituency in Kuala Lumpur.
Nurul's New Politics
The educated denizens of this mixed-race parliamentary ward have made their inclinations known by their support for several fundraising dinners that PKR had organised over the last few years for Nurul, in Bangsar and at the Thean Hou Temple, off neighbouring Klang Road.
The relative youth, multiracial composition and education of the diners at these affairs attested to the popularity of their MP.
Part of this popularity is attributable to her status as the daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the Pied Piper of political change in Malaysia.Additionally, Nurul is seen as a representative of the New Politics in Malaysia, the politics that de-emphasises sectarian considerations in favour of nation-building ones, privileges the needs of the people over vested interests, and prioritises merit and excellence over mediocrity.
Though Nurul comes from a politically-connected family, she is not seen as having benefitted from inherited privilege.
Instead, she is seen as having paid a high psychic price for helping in part to shoulder the travails her father has had to endure since he was sacked from Umno and the government 15 years ago.
More than most, she is indeed what her boosters call her - ‘Puteri Reformasi' (Daughter of the Malaysian Spring).
Do-or-die mission
Raja Nong Chik is, in effect, the opposite of Nurul. His father was a top flight civil servant. Nong Chik lived in Bangsar from the time of his upper secondary school days in Victoria Institution and trained as an accountant in London before beginning his career in the corporate world and then in business in Kuala Lumpur.
He joined Umno and has been trying to win the Lembah Pantai division leadership several times but in vain because of the suzerainty exercised over it by Shahrizat whose hold over the division stemmed from her grip on the MP's slot for Lembah Pantai which she held since 1995 and had lubricated her entrée into the cabinet.
In spite of the odds, Nong Chik has been tenacious in his campaign to win the Lembah Pantai Umno division leadership; Shahrizat's defeat at the hands of Nurul in the 2008 election gave him the chance to ghost through the gap availed by the Wanita leader's toppling as MP.Now, at the end of his second and final term as senator, he has to win the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat to solidify his hold on a cabinet position. In the process, the prized scalp of a PKR icon would be the icing on his cake.
Despite the aura of climbing unassisted up the divisional ranks in Umno, Nong Chik cannot shed the image that he is a scion of privilege and a beneficiary of the old way of doing business in this country.
A company belonging to his daughter was directly awarded a RM30 million contract by the Youth and Sports Ministry. Nong Cik claims that the contract was awarded in 2006 before he joined the cabinet.
The old ways
There are other aspects to his deportment or that of his campaign assistants that are indicative of the old way of doing things.
Banners and flags of PKR put up by Nurul's workers in Lembah Pantai have been removed or torn down by assorted toughs, even when these have been put up in the wee hours before dawn.
When surprised by PKR workers, the lads have reportedly let on that they have been paid to remove the stuff. ‘Cari Makan' (earning some bread), some sheepishly own up to their motives.
Nong Chik would give his case for election to the MP-ship of Lembah Pantai a big assist if he accepts Nurul's challenge to debate her.
That would be an instance in which a thing she can do, if he should prove better at, he would go a solid distance in shedding the aura of being a holdover, albeit spruced-up, of the old way of doing things.
It would be a surprise if he does accept the challenge to debate; he's too pre-packaged a remnant of the Old Politics to risk his mettle in the spontaneous cut-and-thrust of the New Politics.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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