DAP too strong in late Karpal’s seat

The son of the “Tiger of Jelutong” is looking forward to continuing serving the people as his father did.

PETALING JAYA: One of the many viral videos on the Penang floods last November showed an angry flood victim ranting at Ramkarpal Singh, who was elected as the MP of Bukit Gelugor following the death of his father, Karpal Singh in 2014.

The man’s anger was focused on overdevelopment and hill clearing in the state.

Overdevelopment, flooding and traffic dominate the complaints of people in Bukit Gelugor and its three state constituencies of Air Itam, Paya Terubong and Seri Delima, says a local MCA leader.

“We think we can do better this time around, particularly where state seats are concerned, but it is still an uphill battle,” said Bukit Gelugor MCA Youth chief Ong Han Beng.

Facebook pic.

“Chinese voters are the majority here, and the sentiment favours the opposition as the community wants change at the federal level, but we think we can do better in the state seats because many are fed up with DAP.”

After the recent redelineation exercise, Bukit Gelugor will have 90,000 voters, with an estimated composition of 68% Chinese, 28% Malay and 4% Indians and others.

In the last polls, the late Karpal won Bukit Gelugor with a thumping 42,706 majority. Karpal’s son Ramkarpal won the seat again in the by-election of May 2014, following his father’s death the previous month.

DAP also won all the three state seats here against MCA and Gerakan candidates. RSN Rayer (Seri Delima), Wong Hon Wai (Air Itam) and Yeoh Soon Hin (Paya Terubong) defended their seats with victory margins of between 46.6% and 73.1%.

While past results indicate a likely DAP victory again in Bukit Gelugor, Ong believes that MCA stands a good chance in Seri Delima, where Barisan Nasional (BN) commands most of the Malay votes.

“Seri Delima has many businessmen and professionals and from our interaction with them, we find many are fed up with DAP’s inability to bring change and over issues like overdevelopment and traffic congestion.”

Ong said MCA could win Seri Delima if it captured sufficient Chinese and Indian votes.

Meanwhile, Huan Cheng Guan of Parti Cinta Malaysia, who stood against Ramkarpal in the 2014 by-election, has not decided on contesting the seat again.

But Huan believes local problems including flood woes will affect DAP’s majority in Bukit Gelugor.

Ramkarpal, meanwhile, said it was undeniable that flooding was an issue, particularly in Paya Terubong and Air Itam.

He admitted this had led to some unhappiness, especially after last November’s floods, where Penang experienced a record rainfall.

“But the state responded to these floods through the disbursement of aid and provision of incentives. I believe, based on my time on the ground, that many are satisfied with how we handled the flood.”

Ramkarpal did not rule out the possibility that floods could affect support for DAP but believed that at both the parliamentary and state levels, the majority of voters would still back his party.

At the parliamentary level, Ramkarpal said voters were hungry for change and focused on the bigger picture, even with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad chosen as the opposition’s candidate for prime minister.

“I had my reservations about Mahathir, and I know there are some who are upset with us joining forces with him, but the time has come to look beyond the past and I think many voters are starting to feel the same way.”

As for the state seats, Ramkarpal believes the development of infrastructure in Bukit Gelugor over the past four years, including the construction of new roads to alleviate traffic congestion, has been well received.

For the son of the “Tiger of Jelutong”, the past four years have been very encouraging, and he is looking forward to continuing serving the people as his father did. -FMT