Norhizam Hassan Baktee is possibly one of the most despised election candidates among DAP supporters in the Malacca polls.
Having won the Pengkalan Batu seat on a DAP ticket in 2018, he became an independent and contributed to the collapse of both the Pakatan Harapan and Umno-Bersatu governments after switching sides, not once but twice.
He is now defending his seat as an independent candidate at the Nov 20 state polls.
His sometimes abrasive style has more than once been caught on camera, which was also how he got the nickname "Hulk".
"You were elected because of your party but because of power, you jumped to another side," said 62-year-old Liu who only gave his surname when met at a local coffee shop in Pengkalan Batu.
However, in various random conversations, there were multiple occasions where Malaysiakini had come across voters singing praises of Norhizam.
These voters remember Norhizam not for turning on either the Harapan and Umno-Bersatu government, but for the fact that he had personally helped them.
"Only Norhizam worked very hard. He is good. I have been applying for a licence since the BN era but never got one.
"When Norhizam became the assemblyperson here, it only took three months and I managed to get the licence," said 68-year-old stall owner Ab Majin.
Others say they see him very often as he is always on the ground.
"If you ask the residents in Bachang, in the afternoon he will come around on his motorcycle. He is not like a YB at all," said 25-year-old Safwan Suboh. Bachang is located within the Pengkalan Batu constituency.
Pengkalan Batu is a majority Malay seat (Malay 66%, Chinese 28%, Indian 5%). It used to be a mixed seat called Bachang before the recent redelineation (Malay 48%, Chinese 46%, Indian 5%)
'Call him gangster, but he helped'
Even outside of Pengkalan Batu, Norhizam's name came up in conversations with fishermen when they expressed their disillusionment with BN, PN and Harapan.
"For us, the one who helped us was Norhizam. He gave us assistance and helped us apply for licence," said 38-year-old fisherman Daud Othman.
They said Norhizam, who was the exco in charge of fisheries, would personally follow up issues with them.
“Although people said he looks like a gangster, he has a good heart," said another fisherman, 45-year-old Mohd Yazid Ayop.
They spoke more fondly about the "gangster" Norhizam than they did about incumbent chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali, who has portrayed the image of a pious man and often shared photographs of his attendance at religious events.
"Every time I looked at Sulaiman's Facebook page, he is talking about land reclamation," said Yazid, who is exasperated that the projects had impacted his livelihood as a fisherman.
The fishermen added that they also had little impression of the soft-spoken Malacca Harapan chairperson Adly Zahari, who served as the chief minister from 2018 to 2020 and generally has a good reputation in the state.
This, they said, was because they have not had engagements with him.
Tough for independent to win
But despite expressing their preference for Norhizam, they do not believe he can win as an independent candidate.
Norhizam is facing DAP's Muhamad Danish Zainudin who is contesting as the Harapan candidate in Pengkalan Batu. The other candidates are PN's Mohd Azrudin Md Idris, BN's Kalsom Noordin and Putra's Mohd Aluwi Sari.
Unlike East Malaysia, independent candidates in Peninsular Malaysia have rarely won in elections due to voters' propensity to vote along party lines. The last high-profile victory by an independent candidate in Peninsular Malaysia was in 1988.
On nomination day, Norhizam described himself as a "humble" candidate but went on to declare that he was a harder worker than other assemblypersons.
"There's no protocol, I'm humble - you can meet me by the roadside even though I was the exco. I may not have the title IR (professional engineer) but I have JR - jiwa rakyat (the people's heart).
"There are 28 assemblypersons in Malacca but how many can do work? I ask that the people open their eyes and evaluate themselves," he said.
For some, Norhizam can come across as arrogant. There are those who cannot forgive him for political defection.
But Norhizam's appeal among some sections of the community suggests that he could potentially play a spoiler role, especially if it's a close race. - Mkini
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