Peja vs Anwar: Billboard wars heat up Tambun

 

GE15 | While election candidates elsewhere trade furious verbal blows, there is something to be said about the way contenders in Tambun are approaching the campaign period.

Perak Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairperson and Tambun candidate Ahmad Faizal Azumu has launched a barrage of attacks in the form of billboards over the last few weeks.

In his latest attack against Pakatan Harapan boss-turned-rival candidate Anwar Ibrahim, Faizal, also known as Peja, hinted the PKR president should use the northbound exit of a nearby highway to get out of Tambun.

Anwar was born in the town of Cherok Tok Kun, south of Bukit Mertajam in Penang. The town is 140km north of Tambun.

Throughout his political career, the opposition leader was elected six times as the MP for the federal constituency of Permatang Pauh in Penang.

The “Dari Tambun Susur Keluar ke Utara” billboard is understood to have been put up late last night and has replaced the “Never Lost in Tambun” slogan which was put up previously.

The incumbent Tambun MP’s offensive is a wordplay on Anwar’s recent “Dari Tambun untuk Malaysia” (From Tambun to Malaysia) billboard erected along Jalan Chemur/Jalan Meru Impian yesterday.

Perak vs Penang dialect

Since the PKR president’s announcement on Oct 20 that he will be standing in the Tambun parliamentary seat, Faizal has bombarded the Harapan prime minister candidate in various creative forms.

A day after the announcement, Faizal “welcomed” Anwar’s challenge for the seat with a reminder of how to pronounce air (water) in the Perak dialect, which is “ayor” and not how Penangites say it - “ayaq”.

In a reply, Anwar said, to those who implied he was parachuting into Perak, he has lived in the state for nine years, including a two-year detention in the Kamunting Detention Centre.

“Those who are planning to move to Tambun, here is my advice.

“In Tambun, we say ayor, Listen carefully, ayor. Not ayaq. Thank you,” Faizal said in a short video.

Days after, a billboard featuring Faizal and his "Ayor bukan Ayaq" slogan was erected near Komplek Lai Chee in Tambun.

Never lost in Tambun

In a banner put up on an overhead bridge at Jalan Tambun, Ipoh last Tuesday (Nov 1), an image of the Bersatu deputy president is seen plastered next to the phrase “Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu never lost in Tambun” – an apparent wordplay on the town’s amusement park, the Lost World of Tambun.

At one glance, the tagline might bring about the meaning that Faizal has never lost his way in Tambun.

It could also be assumed that Faizal, a local in Tambun, is sending a strong message to his opponents, especially Anwar, who will be contesting on his turf that he will not be defeated.

The four-way fight in Tambun this election involves Faizal, Anwar, BN’s Aminuddin Md Hanafiah and GTA’s Abdul Rahim Tahir.

In the 14th general election, the Tambun election was a three-cornered fight involving BN, Harapan, and PAS.

Faizal won the seat for Harapan by polling only 44.5 percent of the votes cast, while BN’s Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, the incumbent, polled a close second.

Prior to this, Husni won the seat for BN by polling 56.2 percent of the votes in 2013. - Mkini