Voters say Barisan Nasional does a better job of helping the people than Pakatan Harapan.
Former prime minister Najib Razak speaks at a campaign event for the Sungai Kandis by-election in Bandar Puteri last night. (Bernama pic)
KLANG: Bandar Puteri resident Letchumy watches from a distance as the crowd slowly grows at a campaign event here for Lokman Noor Adam, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Sungai Kandis by-election.
She stands patiently in front of a grocery store, scanning the crowd for the VIPs who are scheduled to appear at the function.
Turning to her husband, she says it is getting late. However, her husband who is wheelchair-bound tells her to be patient.
“Get a drink if you want,” he says, pointing to a table laden with food and drinks.
When the speakers appear, Letchumy’s mood changes and a big smile appears on her face. By now, the crowd has ballooned in size with most of the attendees wearing blue shirts and caps and carrying small flags with the BN logo.
“I’ve been staying here for 15 years,” she told FMT when approached.
“They always have big events like this so we know that they can afford to take care of us. Look at all the food they brought us. This is my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of the week.”
Letchumy, 75, is a voter in the Sungai Kandis constituency and a long-time BN supporter. Having voted for BN many times in the past, she said she saw no reason to change her pattern and vote for the other side, even if they were now in government.
“This Saturday, BN promised to send buses to take us to the polling stations. Of course I’m going. I’m voting for them. I’ve been doing this for so many years.
“Who else is going to give us all these free things?” she said with a drink in her hand and three packets of nasi lemak on her lap.
The Sungai Kandis polls this Saturday will be the first by-election after the May 9 general election. It follows the death of PKR assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei on July 2 due to cancer.
The constituency, part of the Kota Raja parliamentary seat, is considered a PKR stronghold. Covering parts of Klang and Shah Alam, it has a sizeable Malay population.
Others who attended the campaign event last night shared Letchumy’s sentiments.
Fariz, a 24-year-old university student who travelled to Bandar Puteri to visit his family, told FMT while he supported Pakatan Harapan (PH), BN did a better job of coming up with attractive programmes and incentives such as BR1M and the 1Malaysia shops.
“We all benefitted from their programmes. Call it a waste of money, but not everyone is rich here. My parents are working odd jobs just to make ends meet.
“I may support PH, but BN had a system in place to help us. I don’t see that with PH.
“I don’t think they know what they’re doing, but I hope PH takes a page out of BN’s book and starts similar programmes to help us. We need all the support we can get.”
Meanwhile, a 45-year-old former government servant named Zeti told FMT she would never forgive PH for axing the appointments of civil servants like herself.
“Najib is right,” she said, referring to former prime minister Najib Razak.
“They had no right to fire us because they thought we weren’t doing a good job.”
Najib, who appeared at the event with Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said in his speech that he had met a former police officer who lost his job after the election.
Najib said the man had come to his house in tears, lamenting that he had no income and it was the fasting month.
“Remember, 70,000 contracts were axed by PH during the first day of Ramadan. How many of you showed up at my house to tell me of your plight?” he said.
Zeti said it was clear that civil servants were no longer a priority with the new government. She added that there was nothing wrong with having a large number of government workers as there was a lot that needed to be done.
“I’d like to see them try getting things done now that they’ve made all the ministries smaller. Didn’t they add new ministries too? Good luck to them,” she said.
Sungai Kandis was previously known as Seri Andalas. In the 14th general election, the state seat was won by Mat Suhaimi with a 12,480 majority in a four-cornered contest. The seat was held by PKR for three consecutive terms since 2008.
About 72% of Sungai Kandis voters are Malay, 12% are Chinese and 16%, Indians.
Lokman, BN’s candidate for the Sungai Kandis by-election, will go up against PH’s candidate Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni from PKR, as well as independent K Murthy. -FMT
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