As BN sets take back Port Dickson, can PKR's rear admiral hold it?

GE14 | In every ceramah PKR’s Port Dickson candidate Danyal Balagopal Abdullah attends, the English-educated converted Muslim will use his not-so-fluent Malay to introduce himself, telling the voters why he joined politics after serving the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) for 38 years.

In this general election (GE14), BN is confident of recapturing the Port Dickson parliamentary seat, previously named as Teluk Kemang, from PKR in Negeri Sembilan.

PKR has filed former rear admiral Danyal to defend its only parliamentary foothold in the state, and the military voters will be the key voters in this election.

Half-an-hour’s drive from the state's capital Seremban, Port Dickson is called "army town" and here the Army Basic Training Centre (Pusada) is located.

It is one of the five parliamentary seats with highest numbers of early voters, the others being Setiawangsa, Lumut, Tangga Batu and Lembah Pantai.

Port Dickson is a mixed constituency with 75,212 voters. Its ethnic breakdown is as follows: 43 percent Malay, 33 percent Chinese, 22 percent Indians, and two percent from the other ethnic groups.

Under Port Dickson, there are five state seats, namely Chuah, Lukut, Bagan Pinang, Linggi and Sri Tanjung.

In the 13th general election(GE13), Port Dickson had 6,563 early voters and 1,193 postal voters, from which BN gained 5,348 and 988 votes respectively, leaving PKR with not more than 20 percent of these votes.

The three Chinese-majority areas, which are Chuah, Lukut, Sri Tanjung, helped PKR candidate Kamarul Baharin Abbas to defend the seat with a mere majority of 1,579 votes, or 2.6 percent of the votes cast.

In this GE14, Port Dickson has 13 postal voters and 7,084 early voters (making up 9.44 percent), which will continue to decide the fate of this election.

Port Dickson is seeing a three-cornered fight in this election, with PKR fielding Danyal to defend its seat and MIC information chief VS Mogan (photo) contesting under BN for the second time.

The third candidate is PAS Negeri Sembilan deputy Youth chief Mahfuz Roslan, 34. However, as PAS is not strong in the state, and with many of its members having joined splinter party Amanah, PAS is unlikely to cause a serious damage to PKR or BN.

Mogan, who captured 28,269 votes out of the 59,855 votes cast in GE13, is seen as a big threat to PKR’s Danyal.

In this GE, MIC is contesting nine parliamentary seats and 18 state seats. Out of the nine, four are seats held by incumbents, while the vote-majority it lost in Port Dickson was the least.

In February this year, BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak vowed to take back Port Dickson from PKR.

On the eve of the early voting day, caretaker defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein came to Port Dickson's Segenting camp to campaign for BN.

He reminded the military personnel who would be voting tomorrow to think carefully about the choice they make.

"I have reminded military personnel to think about the agendas the government has for them and their families, like on education, healthcare, housing, welfare of veterans as well as our direction in ensuring the defence preparedness and security needs of the country.

"If there is no big mandate returned, the way I see it, the next five there will be no other work but politicking and politicking... having to counter all kinds of accusations most of which are baseless. Hence, the importance of BN winning by a huge margin so that the agendas can be realised, " Hishammuddin said.

Apart from Hishammuddin, former MB and Port Dickson BN chief Mohd Isa Samad is also assisting Mogan to capture the seat. In Chinese-majority seat Chuah, Mogan relies on MCA state chief Lim Chin Fui to attract Chinese votes.

However, as Harapan is aiming to attract Malay votes nationwide, Port Dickson also seems to have ripples.

On the early voting day, Malaysiakini interviewed a number of army personnel who had just cast their votes.

While most of them were reluctant to disclose their voting tendency, some said they voted for Harapan.

An army man in his 30s said he voted for BN twice, but this time he would turn to Harapan.

"The way of ruling by Mahathir and Najib is different. I think it has to change. Now the economy is terrible," the man, who said he has four children, added.

Another soldier, who revealed he has been an opposition supporter, said he knew about PKR candidate just two days ago, but would still vote for him.

Soldier: The army must support the government

"For state, I will vote for BN, because (the Bagan Pinang candidate) is good. For Parliament, I will vote for PKR.

"Many (army) friends will swing (to Harapan) this time… most don't like Najib. The problem is the leader, not the party," he said.

However, a soldier who is a second-time voter stressed that the army must support the government.

With the military having barred its personnel from talking politics, none of these military personnel Malaysiakini spoke to would provide their names.

To defend Port Dickson, PKR needs not only secure a certain number of army votes, but also need support from Malay voters.

On May 3, the sixth day of the campaign period, PKR's ceramah in Pasir Panjang may have reflected the sentiment of the Malay voters in Port Dickson.

This ceramah featured Danyal, Sri Tanjong candidate Ravi Munusamy, PKR state chief Aminuddin Harun, and PKR member and a former major with the RMN, Phua Hean Sim, and attracted about 150 people.

Unlike Chinese and Indian crowds, the Malays mostly stood at the back of the ceramah area.

One member of the Malay audience, who only wished to be known as Hisham, told Malaysiakini that he had voted for BN four times, but wanted to vote for Harapan this time.

Hisham said he is a contractor, and this was the first time he had attended a PKR ceremah.

At first, he was reluctant to talk about politics, but when the conversation started, he claimed that 12 people in his family would swing to Harapan.

"This time we have to change. Not that BN is not good, they are still good, but the head (leader) is bad… the MP or assemblypersons we elected only listen to their boss, the BN representatives now are of no use.

"The GST (that made me change my mind). Moreover, the boss has stolen a lot of money, and (the BN representatives) remain in silence. If they are right, they should fight with the opposition.

"My family has 12 people, all can vote this time. Only my mother is reluctant to vote for PKR, the rest all go for PKR. They were all BN supporters," Hisham said.

Another interviewee, only wished to be named as Zairul, said the high cost of living and corruption made him change his stand.

Zairul, 37, is a lorry driver and has two children. He will be voting for the third time in this GE. In the last two GE, he supported BN.

"In the past, BN seemed okay, fewer problems, but now many problems, more than the opposition.

"Many reasons (that make me change). One of it is GST. The living cost is too high now, and there is much corruption.

"Give new face (a chance). See how they would perform. We already know how these old faces will do, right? Give new faces (a chance), he said.

However, another Malay voter, who only wished to be named as Bahari, told Malaysiakinithat he was not convinced.

"These are all empty promises. How many years has the opposition taken over Port Dickson? I never see their face.

"I think Najib is good, always helps the people, with BR1M, houses and roads. My family has three voters, and we will vote for BN," he said.

Pasir Panjang is located under the Linggi state seat, a BN stronghold. Hisham, Zairul and Bahari are all locals.

In GE13, BN gained 1,034 out of the 1,851 votes cast by the Pasir Panjang police force, while PKR received 806 votes and 11 votes went to the independent.

When Kamarul Baharin was Port Dickson MP for two terms, the locals have been upset with his rare appearance and service in the constituency.

Initially, PKR replaced him with Rosman Jonet, but the latter failed to submit his financial report to the Election Commission after the last GE, and this forced PKR to look for replacement again.

It is understood that Rosman, after not being fielded in Port Dickson, has brought his machinery to elsewhere to campaign for PKR.

Similarly, Chuah, a state seat held by PKR under Port Dickson, has its incumbent Chai Tong Chai going to another constituency to campaign for PKR.

This forced DAP state chief Anthony Loke came to campaign for PKR’s Chuah candidate Yek Diew Ching on May 5, in order to prevent any loss of support for Harapan from the Chinese voters.

As a "parachute" candidate, Danyal is also facing certain PKR grassroots members who are inactive in campaigning.

Despite Harapan facing internal problems in Port Dickson, it has good chance to defend it as the "Malay tsunami" is coming, said Port Dickson Bersatu division chief Ramli Awang

"We have winning chances, but need to work extra, because (Danyal) is new," Ramli said.

Said Danyal: “Many have asked me, as a former navy personnel, why did I join politics? I see that the politics and the economy are declining (merosot), the people's lives are hard, hence I made this decision.” - Mkini