Segamat hopefuls woo youths with 'helmet politics'

Free helmets! BN is at it again, this time in Segamat.

Incumbent Segamat MP S Subramaniam who is defending his seat, flanked by Norshida Ibrahim and Lee Hong Lee, candidates for the two state seats of Buloh Kasap and Jementah under that parliamentary constituency, handed out some 2,000 free helmets to youth supporters in the constituency.

While opponents may accuse the BN of trying to fish for votes with more freebies, the recipients are really already ardent BN supporters.

This was apparent as the BN election hopefuls couldn’t help but lead the 300 recipient representatives to repeated war cries, seemingly excited at the energetic response of “1Malaysia, Sokong Najib, Undi BN”.

"The opposition wants to assault Johor, will they win or will they fail? Can we rid of them? We will rid of them in Gelang Patah, Kulai, as well as in Segamat," declared Subramaniam (left in photo), who received a rock star reception by the BN loyalists.

The helmets are, in fact, a new trend of political engagement by the ruling coalition in recent years, where it ropes in traditionally politically apathetic bikers to back its election campaign.

“They are our frontliners, they are the workers on the ground that put up our flags, distribute fliers and talk to the people,” said grassroots BN activist Aidil Othman.

This strategy, adds Aidil, who is also Batu Anam Umno Youth branch chief, helps the ruling coalition to engage youths who would otherwise indulge in other activities that were not necessarily be healthy.

‘Motorcycles resonate with youths’

“Naturally motorcycles resonate with youths because that is what they tend to own at their age, by engaging them, we can at least rein them in and control them.

“Youths are naturally hot blooded, but when their parents call us up and they know their children are doing party work for us instead of being off elsewhere, they breath a sigh of relief,” he said.

Aidil also shot down accusations that the motorcycle units, dubbed ‘Gerak Gempur’, were responsible for some of the disturbances at ceramah, saying that they were being unfairly scapegoated.

The white helmets and orange vest with ‘Barisan Nasional Segamat Parliament’ written on them, is to standardise the appearance of BN foot soldiers who will officially begin their’'battle’ after nomination day tomorrow, he said. 

This ‘helmet politics’ have become a recruiting ground for BN to garner support, especially among the youths in the villages and small towns.

At least in Segamat, it also allowed BN to reach out to youth associations across the constituency, as seen by the presence of youth associations’ representative to receive the helmet.

An enthusiastic 31-year-old Mohd Fuad, who received his equipment, told Malaysiakini he would be at the nomination centre tomorrow to back BN’s candidates in his new ‘uniform’.

“We’ll be out in force tomorrow, we’ll defend BN,” said Mohd, who is attached to a local youth association.

As the event took place, a group of uninvited elderly men and women loitered on the sidelines, asking: “Are there any free helmets?”

Any freebies were simply to hard to resist, but at least this time, it’s only for the BN frontliners who will begin their 15-day campaign battle tomorrow.