Race a factor but we're not racists, say Cameron Felda settlers

CAMERON POLLS | During the time when BN was the federal government, the question of race was never the main consideration for Felda Sungai Koyan voters in determining which candidate to cast their votes for.

However, following BN's historic loss in the last 14th general election, the issue has started to play in the minds of some second-generation Felda Sungai Koyan 3 settlers.

They told Malaysiakini that this was because there have been several notable incidents linked to race in the eight months since Pakatan Harapan assumed federal power.

Among others, they cited the proposal by de facto national unity minister P Waythamoorthy on ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), as well as the USJ25 temple riots which led to the death of a firefighter.

A second-generation Felda settler, Mohd Fadzil Suparman (below), concurred with the view that racial sentiments are still strong within their area.

"Yes, because the majority of settlers in Felda Sungai Koyan 1, Felda Sungai Koyan 2 and Felda Sungai Koyan 3 are Malays," he said.

Felda Sungai Koyan is situated within the Jelai state seat, one of two state seats under the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat. The other state seat is Tanah Rata, currently held by Harapan.

The Jelai state seat, meanwhile, is held by Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail from BN.

For Yusman Zahari Zakaria, their concerns do not mean that Felda settlers are becoming more racist.

"We Felda people are not racists. There is no racial issue in Felda," he said.

"In 2004 and 2008, MIC fielded a candidate and we were never racist. That's why we (BN) won," he said.

According to Yusman, the locals had no problems accepting BN's candidate from MIC, K Devamany, who held the seat for two terms from 2004.

In 2013, the seat was won by former MIC president G Palanivel.

In GE14, former MIC Youth chief C Sivarraajh retained the seat for BN although the court later nullified his victory and paved the way for a by-election.

Reiterating that Felda settlers were not racists, Yusman said it was "normal" for any race to protect their own interests. "Any race in the world will be like that," he added.

Another Felda settler who only wanted to be known as “Wan” (above, in cap) said BN's move to field an Orang Asli candidate this time around was not an issue because Islam remained the uniting factor.

Beyond that, Wan claimed that Harapan had failed to fulfil its promises during its 100 days in power and as such, he had little confidence in their overall ability to manage the country.

The Cameron Highlands by-election will see a four-cornered fight between BN’s Ramli Mohd Nor, Harapan’s M Manogaran, and independents Sallehudin Ab Talib and Wong Seng Yee. - Mkini