The MCA has in the last two general elections suffered catastrophic losses, seeing its parliamentary seats halved twice, from 31 to 15 in the 2008 general election and then to seven in the 2013 general election.
Its last bastion lies in Johor, which contributed four out of the seven parliamentary seats. The remaining were one each in Malacca, Pahang and Perak.
The onslaught against MCA continues in the upcoming general election and Harapan has tasked Bersatu to take on one of MCA’s last safe haven in Tanjung Piai, located on the southernmost tip of the Eurasia continent and is renown for its vast mangrove forest.
The challenger is UK-trained anesthesiologist Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, a reluctant politician and self-professed political novice.
Despite coming from an Umno family, Farid was not an Umno member nor had he been involved in his mother Norman Mohamed’s political activities in Umno until she finally left for Bersatu.
Even then, he waited for more than a year before he took the plunge into Bersatu in March 2017, but has quickly proven to possess his mother’s political acumen.
Farid has been instrumental in the setting up and expansion of Bersatu in Tanjung Piai and had organised multiple ceramahs in the BN stronghold, even convincing Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad to visit the constituency twice, in May last year and January this year.
Mahathir was asked to explain his labelling of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as a “Bugis pirate”, which BN had portrayed as an insult to the Bugis community. Some 30 percent of the population in Tanjung Piai is of Bugis descent.
Bersatu’s Harapan partners have quickly embraced Farid, with the DAP, which contested Tanjung Piai in the last general election, surrendering the coastal constituency to him.
Finding right Malay-Chinese formula
Tanjung Piai comprises 57 percent Malay, 42 percent Chinese and one percent Indian.
In the last general election, the parliamentary seat of Tanjung Piai comprised the Chinese-majority state seat of Pekan Nanas, which DAP won, and the Malay-majority state seat of Kukup, which Umno won.
Following the redelineation exercise, the Election Commission (EC) turned both state seats into Malay majority constituencies but with substantial Chinese population.
Harapan believes Bersatu’s Farid and DAP’s Pekan Nanas assemblyperson Yeo Tung Siong is the best combination to help capture both the Malay and Chinese communities respectively. Amanah’s Suhaizan Kaiat is contesting in Kukup.
Last month, Yeo introduced Farid to some 20 Chinese clans and temple representatives, touting his professional background and describing him as the crème de la crème of Tanjung Piai.
Farid humbly introduced himself, urged the Chinese community to back him and assured that he can also convince the Malay community to vote for change, which will be enough for a new government.
“Malays are going to change. In the past, the opposition could only get 10 percent of the Malay votes (in Tanjung Piai) but now there is already at least 20 percent with the opposition.
“Even (my) village head and his wife have switched. There are indications (of a Malay wave),” he told them.
This was prior to Merdeka Centre’s survey, which said that Harapan had seen a surge in support in recent weeks that would see a close fight in Johor.
Popular MCA incumbent
However, Farid’s opponent is not a pushover. Wee Jeck Seng was the two-term Tanjung Piai MP and prior to that, one-term Pekan Nanas assemblyperson.
Wee retained the Tanjung Piai seat in the last general election by a 5,457-vote majority despite a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, particularly in the Chinese community.
Wee is seen as a hardworking leader who speaks fluent Malay and is well-liked even in the Malay community.
He peppers his speeches in words like “Insyaallah” and “Alhamdulillah” and often touts his local roots and experience growing up in a Malay village.
“I grew up in Pekan Nanas. I had six siblings and lived through hardship when I was young. I stayed at Batu 2 Kampung Melayu along Jalan Sawah.
“I had to drink river water filtered using peat soil. There was no electricity then,” he said in a speech with local residents.
Wee also sees to the religious needs to the Malay community, giving them free robes and also using his allocation to send people to perform the hajj.
He doesn’t behave like a ‘Datuk’ and is easy going with the villages. He can easily connect with people at the warung (food stall). It’s good that we have him,” said local resident Roslan Abd Rahman.
Tanjung Piai, located around 50km west of Johor Bahru, is also home to large numbers oil palm and pineapple planters as well as a large fishing community, which are considered key vote banks for BN.
Wee’s track record is impressive but Farid’s family, too, is well known in Tanjung Piai.
‘Iron lady of Tanjung Piai’
His mother Norma was a prominent local Umno leader, having been in the party for 38 years. She was the Tanjung Piai Umno Wanita chief between 2008 to 2013 and is sometimes described as the “Rafidah Aziz” of Tanjung Piai.
She exudes an aura of authority, is blunt in her straight talk and commands respect in the local community due to her family’s history in Tanjung Piai.
As Norma walked into a local warung at a jetty in Jeram Batu, an Umno stronghold, a group of Umno supporters began gossiping about Norma “betraying” Umno. But as she spoke, they fell silent and listened intently.
“Umno here was founded by my parents… I never received anything when I worked here and I had never sought for any projects. Now, I appeal to you to help our Harapan candidate to win,” she said.
One of the Umno supporters who had been gossiping about Norma, looked embarrassed and quickly pulled a chair for her.
“When Norma speaks, it goes into our ears and never come out,” the Umno man told Malaysiakini.
Jeram Batu comes under the Malay-majority Ladang Sungai Burong polling district which BN won by a landslide in the last general election, gaining 918 votes to DAP’s 189 votes, or 82.9 percent of the votes.
But Norma’s bluntness has also made her enemies, with another Umno member telling Malaysiakini that many Wanita Umno members “couldn’t stand her”.
Strongest challenge yet
Farid, however, is more of a gentleman. As he visited a Malay wedding with Norma, many came to greet him and identified him as “Mak Ne’s son”, in reference to his mother.
Farid faces an uphill battle against a popular MCA incumbent, but a convergence of factors will see Harapan pose the strongest challenge yet in Tanjung Piai.
For the first time in decades, the DAP flag will not fly in Tanjung Piai, which many rural Malays, due to an effective demonisation campaign, see it as a symbol of anti-Malay and anti-Islam. Harapan has decided to use PKR’s flag as its common logo.
Furthermore, the DAP had in the last two general elections fielded Malay candidates, but both were not native. Farid, on the other hand, is a local with a well-known family in the community.
DAP’s Yeo said Bersatu has also played an important role to make the Malay ground more receptive to opposition campaigning, including in areas where the opposition would normally be kicked out.
“Last time, when we handed the Roket (the Malay version of DAP’s newspaper) in Malay areas, some will crumple it into a ball and throw it on the floor. We were sometimes afraid.
“But now, with Bersatu, when we open service counter at the market, some Malays will even come to us for a copy of Roket,” he said.
MKINI
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