Armed with promises, Pakatan blazes into Johor’s Malay heartland

JOHOR BARU, March 24 ― Pakatan Rakyat (PR) hit Kampung Melayu Majidee in its pre-polls blitz last night, striking at the very core of Johor’s urban Malay heartland by pitching free education to the constituent’s new voters, and to its traditional pro-Umno supporters, a promise to keep the settlement preserved.

Huddled in the historic Malay enclave in central Johor Baru, some 2,000 people were warned by PR leaders that their government, helmed by the allegedly “corrupt” Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, had plans to sell several villages within the settlement for lucrative commissions.

But Johor-born PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, who is said to be PR’s choice candidate to replace Abdul Ghani as MB, promised this would not happen under the pact’s rule, should it wrest the Umno bastion of Johor in the coming polls.

“We hear stories that land in Kampung Melayu Majidee may be sold, Umno leaders are in discussion... and the commission is very attractive,” the Kubang Kerian MP told the attentive crowd.

“If Umno cannot even protect the land of the villagers here, we in PR will save it for you,” he promised, to loud applause.

“PR will turn this place into a national heritage village... Umno never thought about all this... tomorrow, when we no longer have these villages, what would we do then? Sing to ghazal songs?” he asked, referring to the traditional Johor Malay ghazal musical ensemble.

Kampung Melayu Majidee is home to at least 10 Malay villages and is said to represent the voice of the urban Malay vote of Johor, a long-time stronghold of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) lynchpin Umno.

But those who turned up last night appeared to be uncharacteristically boisterous in their show of support for the string of PR leaders who took turns at the ceramah stage.

The Malaysian Insider spotted many young faces among the crowd, a factor not missed by the speakers as they rallied for more cheers.

PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (picture), the highlight of the night, and PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution, took turns to dangle PR’s promise to abolish the PTPTN national higher education loan system should the pact wrest federal power. 

Further to this, Anwar made special mention of criticisms that a federal government under PR would result in the loss of political power for the Malays, the country’s most dominant ethnic group.

“If we win, we win; if not, it’s okay, we trust in Allah. It is not likely that we would remain in this struggle if we wanted to be traitors to the Malays,” Anwar thundered.

There were, however, among those in the crowd who appeared doubtful of PR’s rhetoric.

One member of the audience told The Malaysian Insider that PR’s greatest challenge in Johor would still be the Malay vote, despite its many attempts to break into Umno’s support base.

Monodon, 49, said the Johor Malays were still predominantly Umno supporters, largely due to their lack of exposure to PR’s politics.

“But the youths, there are many who are new voters... they are more supportive of PR, they get information from the alternative media,” he said.

In the peninsula, Johor is seen as PR’s key to unlock Putrajaya, having been among the few states that appeared to miss the political tsunami of Election 2008.

In the run-up to Election 2013, PR has paid much attention to making inroads in Johor, even strategically moving many of its key leaders to contest seats in the country’s southernmost state.

The most notable leader is DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, who, as announced by Anwar earlier this week, will leave Ipoh Timor to stand in the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

The Malays make up close to 60 per cent of the three million-strong population of Johor, which is also home to a staggering 74 FELDA settlements spread out across 21 state constituencies.

The FELDA Malay vote is often played by BN as its trump card during electoral battles, and has also been credited as among one of the key reasons behind the ruling pact’s survival of the 2008 general election.

During the last polls, BN returned a strong government in Johor when it trounced the opposition in 25 of 26 parliamentary seats and 50 of 56 state seats.

Without its victories in Johor, BN would have lost the battle in the peninsula to PR, with only 60 federal seats, in comparison with PR’s 79.

Including the Johor seats, BN’s seat tally with PR stood at 85-80.