In Kelantan, voters wear their loyalty on car stickers

A car in Kelantan displaying Umno’s ‘Tukar’ sticker. — Pictures by Zurairi ARKOTA BARU, April 6 — Across the Malay heartland state of Kelantan the political divide is being brought to you by the letters “T” and “K” plastered across the rear bumpers of tens of thousands of cars.

The “T” stands for “Tukar”, which means change in Malay, but unlike other parts of Malaysia, the word in Kelantan has been claimed by Umno supporters clamouring for a change in government in the state that has been ruled by PAS since 1990.

PAS supporters have responded with “K” stickers, which stand for “Kekal” which is Malay for “to remain”, an expression of hope that the state remains in the hands of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party.

The “T” and “K” movement follows in the footsteps of a movement called Royalti — which uses the white letter “R” on red stickers.

The “R” movement is sponsored by PAS and is part of the state’s battle with Putrajaya for oil royalty the PAS government says is due to Kelantan.

“The ‘T’ stands for ‘tukar’. Tukar kerajaan, tukar kepimpinan PAS (change the PAS government and leadership),” said Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad, Kelantan Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary, of the initiative by its information division.

He explained that the letter “T” was also chosen to symbolise the biggest issue in Kelantan, which is “tanah” (land), and is part of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s transformational agenda.

The BN campaign has in the past few months accused the state government of gifting and selling reserve lands to corporate firms, allegedly because Kelantan does not have the funds to develop the land itself.

Perak DAP leaders Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming were recently accused of being given land worth RM30 million in Kelantan, and BN is trying to capitalise on locals who are concerned that they are being “robbed” by the Chinese.

The allegations have been denied with little evidence shown to substantiate the claims.

“Nik Aziz is already “tua”, that is also a ‘T’,” Md Alwi said, referring to Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who is 82 years old this year and has been in office for nearly 23 years, since October 1990.

The number of cars with Umno’s “T” stickers has visibly increased in recent months.

The number of cars in Kelantan with the ‘T’ sticker has visibly increased in recent months.The square stickers, with a white capital “T” on top of a thin white outline shaped like the state, are coloured red in reference to Umno’s Gelombang Merah (Red Wave) campaign, launched by Kelantan Umno information chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed in February 2011 to attract local youths to help the party retake the state.

BN has long sought to regain Kelantan, with the ruling federal coalition promising its return from the popular PAS government in every general election since 1995. PAS has ruled the state through two lengthy periods: from 1959 to 1977, and the current rule since 1990.

Meanwhile, PAS is fighting back with its “Kekal” campaign, launched just two weeks ago by the party’s state Youth wing to counter Umno’s move and replicate the sticker craze started by Royalti.

PAS’s stickers mirror Umno’s, swapping red for the party’s green, and “T” for “K”.

“Kelantanese who do not agree with ‘T’ would ask, why do we need to change? When you say change, it would usually be from a worse state to better,” Kelantan PAS information chief Dr Mohd Fadzli Hassan told The Malaysian Insider.

Backed by the state government, he compared the movement to the Selangor state government’s SelangorKu (My Selangor) campaign which is being countered by BN’s Sayangi Selangor (Love Selangor).

“We want to tell the public: Sayangi Kelantanku, kekalkan pentadbiran ulama, ubah kerajaan Putrajaya (Love our Kelantan, keep the rule of Islamic clerics, change the Putrajaya government).”

The Royalti movement was started by the Kelantan government to claim oil royalty allegedly denied to the state, but has since gained traction last year as a non-partisan movement driven by locals who feel that their rights have been stifled by Putrajaya.

Kelantan folk have always plastered stickers bearing logos of PAS and BN, but it was not as widely done until Royalti came up with a simple and catchy logo.

The stickers’ ubiquity has been helped by resourceful traders who sell their own copies of the stickers at night markets for between RM5 and RM10 each. Just like “R”, the “T” and “K” logos have also made their ways into T-shirts, worn by mostly young supporters when attending political rallies.

In the 2008 general election, BN won only seven state seats out of the 45 in Kelantan, and two of the 14 parliamentary seats. Mustapa’s Jeli parliamentary constituency was one of them.