Humble local boy vs rebel rouser

AT a ceramah near where Jalan Kampung Batu 7 and Jalan Mughni meets, Zawawi Ahmad Mughni, the Pakatan Harapan candidate in the Sungai Kandis by-election, was giving a short and sweet speech.

“I don’t need to introduce myself as I’m anak tempatan (local boy). This is my kampung. My opponent is orang luar (an outsider),” he said on Wednesday night.

Zawawi of PKR was speaking in Kampung Jalan Kebun and the outsider he was referring to was Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Lokman Noor Adam of Umno. Not mentioned in the ceramah is independent candidate Murthi Krishnasamy.

Jalan Mughni is named after Zawawi’s father and the family home was nearby. Lokman is an “export” candidate as he is from Johor but has been living in Shah Alam for two decades.

.The local boy is confident of winning the by-election that was triggered by the death of assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafie from lymphoma on July 2. He was more worried about the voter turnout. He urged the 50-plus crowd not to assume that Pakatan would win the seat and not turn out to vote.

Perhaps because he was on home turf, the Pakatan candidate did not talk much on issues.

“Before we won the Federal government, we were on attack mode in GE14. We brought up issues like 1MDB and GST (Goods and Services Tax). But in this by-election, we’re now in the Federal government. And we explain to the voters that we peduli rakyat (we care for the people),” said Mohd Faiz Farhan Rozlan, a Kota Raja PKR youth leader.

“Unlike Umno, we don’t bring up racial issues as PKR is a multiracial party.”

Sungai Kandis is one of the three state seats in the Kota Raja parliamentary seat in Selangor. Mohd Faiz described the state constituency as Malay villages surrounded by factories and smallholder plantations such as pineapple and oil palm. The seat straddles Shah Alam and Klang.

Zawawi and Lokman have contrasting characters. Zawawi is mild-mannered while Lokman is a rebel rouser.

“Lokman has watak keras (hard character). Selongor voters prefer humble politicians,” said Dr Muhammad Asri Mohd Ali, a research fellow with the National Council of Professors.

“Many Umno leaders project the image that the people must respect them whereas in this area (Selangor), PKR or Amanah politicians show that they are afraid of the rakyat,” he said.

It is a role reversal for Umno. Lokman is on attack mode in the first by-election after GE14, which saw Barisan toppled. He attacked the Pakatan government with 3Rs (religion, race and royalty).

When Barisan was in power, he said, activities threatening the positions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Malay rights and Bahasa Malaysia were nipped in the bud through legal means. But these issues, he claimed, are now left unchecked under the Pakatan government, making the Malay-Muslim community unsettled.

There’s even a viral video clip, which featured an impromptu debate between Lokman and Zawawi when they crossed paths during a campaign walkabout.

Zawawi said one of his big agendas if he won was bridging racial relations so that there was no racial prejudice among the communities.

Lokman said he was contesting not only because he wanted to represent the Sungai Kandis or Selangor rakyat, but also the rakyat of all Malaysia.

“This August 4 polling is not about picking Ustaz Zawawi or me, but it is a referendum on whether the people are happy with the 70 days that Pakatan has governed Selangor and Malaysia,” he said.

The Umno Supreme Council member also said that it had been already 70 days, and yet former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has not been charged for alleged 1MDB offences, which proved that Pakatan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad used fitnah (slander) to win GE14.

Dr Muhammad Asri said he was surprised that after Barisan’s defeat in GE14, the “old Umno” was appearing in the by-election and that the party was still using 3Rs to win.

It might be a wrong strategy, he opined, as the Selangor Malays are not drawn to the Umno type of politics which emphasises on ideology like ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy).

“It looks like we have not learnt anything from our loss in GE14,” said a moderate Umno leader, who did not want to be identified.

The selection of Lokman as the candidate was also surprising for Dr Muhammad Asri as he was perceived as Najib’s right-hand man.

“It looks like Umno do not know what is happening on the ground. It looks like they did not get the message that since Najib became Umno’s Selangor liaison chief that the number of seats Barisan lost in the state has increased. The decreasing number of seats won reflects Najib’s unpopularity with Selangor voters,” he said.

Another reason Lokman might not be the right candidate for the by-election as he is seen as a defender of Najib and the 1MDB scandal, Dr Muhammad Asri added.

“Among the many reasons Selangor voters rejected Barisan was the 1MDB issue,” he said.

If Lokman loses, Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi might have an excuse not to field a Najib loyalist in the next election, he noted.

In GE14, Mat Shuhaimi received 23,998 votes, Umno’s Kamaruzzaman Johari (11,518), PAS’ Mohd Yusof Abdullah (7,573) and PRM’s Hanafiah Husin (76). About 72% of the Sungai Kandis voters are Malays, 16% Indians, 12% Chinese and 1% others.

PAS is not contesting and the by-election is a litmus test on whether it is PKR or Umno that can win the majority of the Malay voters. It is interesting to see where the 7,000 plus PAS votes will go.

It is a given that the non-Muslim voters will support Zawawi. For the Malay voters, Dr Muhammad Asri believes a majority of them would vote for Pakatan.

He listed several reasons: the euphoria of Pakatan winning Putrajaya and that it is still honeymoon period for the Pakatan government, sympathy votes for the late Mat Shuhaimi (who was a popular assemblyman) and Barisan in chaos after its shocking GE14 defeat.

“There’s also an anti-Umno mood in Selangor where Pakatan won 51 out of the 56 state seats. Sungai Kandis is also not an Umno stronghold,” he said.

The Sungai Kandis by-election is for Pakatan to win unless Lokman, the rebel rouser, can create an upset.- Star