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Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Raja and the 'princess' take gloves off



He is an entrepreneur-turned-politician from Negeri Sembilan royalty, a top student back in school and a shabby golfer. She is a crowd magnet, a daddy's girl and the youngest member of Malaysia's Parliament.
Umno's Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin and the "princess of reform" Nurul Izzah Anwar of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) are battling to win the hearts and minds of 72,533 voters in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, a hot seat in the country's watershed 13th General Election.
"Which type of MP do you want? If it's based on perception or sentiment, I'm on the losing end," admitted Raja Nong Chik, 60. "But if you want someone who has proven to get things done, I'm the one," he said in an interview with The Sunday Times.
The opponents have been trading barbs daily since nomination kicked off a week ago. Raja Nong Chik has accused Ms Nurul of stoking voter sentiment against him while doing very little for her ward.
The relentless attacks are furious, even when couched in humour. Ms Nurul, PKR's vice-president and daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, recalled how she developed an allergic rash after walking over a leaking septic tank in Kuala Lumpur on a campaign walkabout.
"You know lah," she deadpanned, "I'm a princess."
It was a dig at the sloppy work of KL's city hall; her challenger, as Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister, is boss of the local council.
In 2008, Ms Nurul, running for the first time, pipped Umno's Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil by 2,895 votes. Pundits say the fight now is too close to call as the 32-year-old is up against, in her own words, another Goliath.
"He is, after all, the de facto king of the local city hall," she said, in an interview with The Sunday Times.
"It's very challenging; we've had rocks thrown and eggs pelted at us. My posters are defaced. We are dealing with a bully," she lamented.
She is crying foul over almost 5,000 "dubious voters" in the electoral rolls. He has challenged her to expose the names of these voters.
The animosity is visible. "For her, Lembah Pantai is just a platform to bring up issues about her father (Anwar Ibrahim)," Raja Nong Chik said. "For me, my reason to contest is to serve."
It is a tired line, countered Ms Nurul. "They used the same accusation in 2008," she shot back. "I'm not my father. It's my name on the ballot paper and it's my decision to fight to retain the seat."
The RNC factor
This marks Raja Nong Chik's, or RNC as he is known, maiden electoral contest. It helps that he has a mammoth machinery behind him, chiefly cash handouts under the People's 1Malaysia Aid (BR1M) programme.
But many in the middle class are rubbed the wrong way by handouts. "It's a populist policy using taxpayers' money which replaces other failed policies. It's unsustainable," said University of Malaya political economy professor Terence Gomez.
The man described as a "geek" by his inner circle comes from a family of civil servants. His grandfather was the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal while his father was secretary- general of the Health Minister under Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the country's second prime minister.
"I grew up in Lembah Pantai," he said. He has dutifully worked the ground in recent years, providing aid to the needy there.
One of the beneficiaries is 60-year-old Mallika, a housewife who lives on the poorer side of Bangsar, not far from where the super-rich live in their opulent mansions.
"I've always voted for BN (Barisan Nasional). When I needed a house, he helped. When I needed help with medical bills, he helped," she said of Raja Nong Chik, as she sat on the doorstep of her low-cost home with its paint peeling off.
The playing field is hardly even, said Ms Nurul. While Raja Nong Chik is able to tap the government's largesse for the constituency, she is not so lucky. "I have to use all my pay and husband's money to set up free clinics here."
Raja Nong Chik remarked: "I've been doing her job these last four years. She should be thanking me. I might as well be MP."
Princess of hearts
But on the stump, Raja Nong Chik is no match for Ms Nurul, a natural politician who has inherited Datuk Seri Anwar's high-spirited oratory.
Raja Nong Chik, on the other hand, prefers to have other BN speakers hold court at his ceramahs or dialogue sessions.
If he is popular among the poor and Bangsar's elite, Ms Nurul appeals most to the disenchanted urban middle class and Chinese community.
Voter Meena A., 45, an accountant of Chinese and Indian parentage, exemplifies that base: "I'm voting for the party, not the individual. We have to see the big picture."
Whether the people will heed that resounding call to look beyond the "rice bowl" will decide the election outcome in Lembah Pantai, a microcosm of Kuala Lumpur and, in many ways, the rest of the country.

BACKGROUND STORY
Tough contest
"It's very challenging; we've had rocks thrown and eggs pelted at us. My posters are defaced. We are dealing with a bully."
Parti Keadilan Rakyat's NURUL IZZAH ANWAR, on facing another Goliath

Visible animosity
"For her, Lembah Pantai is just a platform to bring up issues about her father (Anwar Ibrahim). For me, my reason to contest is to serve."
Umno's DATUK RAJA NONG CHIK ZAINAL ABIDIN, on why he thinks Ms Nurul Izzah Anwar is standing for election
 -stasiareport

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