GE15 | Before October 2020, Simpang Renggam residents would have to drive 35km out of the small town in central Johor if they wanted to eat at the nearest McDonald’s in Kluang.
But now, when you drive from Kluang to Simpang Renggam, you will see a small sign board stating “turn right for McDonald’s, 15km away” before you arrive at Simpang Renggam town.
While education is his main agenda, bringing in big-name establishments into the constituency is perhaps one of incumbent MP Maszlee Malik’s (above, right) more popular achievements - and could be key in staving off Johor BN chief Hasni Mohammad’s (above, left) bid to capture the seat.
Several voters Malaysiakini talked to in the town area knew the arrival of McDonald’s was spearheaded by Maszlee, and the fast food outlet is especially popular among food delivery riders.
One of the riders said the Japanese convenience chain Family Mart is among the developments which Maszlee brought to his hometown.
“It’s more convenient now, we don't need to go far away to have McDonald’s. Previously, the nearest one was in Kluang,” delivery rider 33-year-old Aliff Ishak said.
The Harapan incumbent had first engaged McDonald’s in 2019 after local youths he met during the 14th general election asked for a franchise to be set up in Simpang Renggam - despite there already being a KFC and Pizza Hut in town.
“I met with the McD Malaysia CEO in 2019 and proposed to them. After that, their marketing team did a survey and found out that there is a good market here,” Maszlee told Malaysiakini.
He then noticed the local youth wanted a Family Mart since they like the variety of Japanese foods, and conveyed the idea to the CEO of the company. Family Mart opened its Simpang Renggam branch in July.
On the campaign trail, Maszlee and his team have become frequent patrons at McDonald’s as a lunch spot and also as a place for interviews with the media.
The PKR central committee member said he likes the variety of food provided by McDonald's but gave a disclaimer that he doesn’t eat there every day, nor is he shilling for them.
His next ongoing plan, he said, is to bring in the coffee chain Starbucks.
“I did a survey with some managers and officers of the local factories and they said they needed a more proper place to have meetings. Now there's McDonald's, so they also suggested bringing in Starbucks," he said.
While bringing in food and beverage franchises may seem like a frivolous indulgence for those living in the concrete jungle where there is an outlet every few kilometres, for Simpang Renggam folks it is more than a place to eat and drink.
One 37-year-old food delivery rider, who declined to be named, said Maszlee’s efforts to bring in McDonald’s and Starbucks provided job opportunities for youths.
“For example, SPM leavers could go to work at McDonald’s or Starbucks.
“Simpang Renggam is a small town so sometimes the locals need to go far away to look for a job. After Starbucks opens, maybe they can hire 20-30 locals. At least there are some, although not many.
“Maszlee also helps people in need. Sometimes even if he could not give what the people want directly, he would at least try,” the rider said.
It is a tangible and visible outcome that what both the rider and Aliff said gives Maszlee an upper hand for consideration to get a second term on Saturday.
TVET institute
In contrast, they viewed BN’s Hasni - who served as Johor menteri besar for almost two years - as a new face and outsider whom they were not familiar with.
In fact, they had just met Hasni for the first time when the BN candidate went on a walkabout an hour before Malaysiakini met the two delivery riders.
Aliff’s friend, another delivery rider who declined to speak, was wearing an Ismail Sabri Yaakob badge that Hasni’s team handed out during the walkabout.
While still proud of his achievement in bringing in McDonald’s, it was not a topic that Maszlee wanted to focus on.
Instead, he insisted on speaking about his education agenda first.
Not content with creating jobs in the service industry, the former education minister pointed out that Simpang Renggam is full of agricultural and industrial areas that made the constituency an ideal place for a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institute.
“We really want (the TVET institute) to be connected with local industries and local agriculture that will in a way create some kind of ecosystem for skills education and for the development of agriculture and local industries.
“Since day one when I joined politics, my goal has always been to uplift the standard of quality of education in Malaysia.
“We’ve brought Open University Malaysia and a college community here. We were planning to have a boarding school, polytechnic and also a branch of a public university here.
“But unfortunately, with the change of government, our plan (to make Simpang Renggam an education hub in central Johor) was not continued,” Maszlee said, in reference to the collapse of the Harapan government in both Putrajaya and the state in 2020.
While in power, Maszlee - who was then with Bersatu - was one of the most criticised members of the cabinet, over his education policies.
Among others, he had been ridiculed over his attempts to update school uniforms and replace white shoes with black ones, and make swimming lessons part of the co-curricular activity.
He also came under fire from the Chinese community after the Education Ministry under his watch tried to introduce khat calligraphy into the vernacular school syllabus, as well as for failing to get the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) recognised by the government.
However, when Maszlee speaks about education on social media these days, there are hardly any comments harping on these matters.
Instead, Chinese sentiment for Maszlee appears to have improved.
During an interview with the Chinese YouTube channel BKK Network about failures in Malaysia’s education system, there were over one thousand comments, most of which praised Maszlee, with many saying the interview had changed their perception of the former minister.
Maszlee had also recently posted viral TikTok videos where he spoke in Hakka with his mother - who is Chinese - and in Tamil with his wife, touting himself as an education-first candidate.
Malay voters
However, non-Malay voters only make up 40 percent of Simpang Renggam’s voters as of August, meaning that Maszlee must capture at least 10 to 15 percent of Malay votes in order to retain the seat.
Hasni - who became menteri besar after the Sheraton Move and was replaced by Onn Hafiz in March after “higher powers” intervened in his return to office - had developed a reputation for being a moderate leader, who can reach across the aisle and work with the opposition.
Speaking to the media last week, Hasni said he doesn’t want to give many promises to voters but believed his experience as the menteri besar, as well as the opposition leader for the past four years, will help him better understand how to develop Simpang Renggam.
However, it should be noted that while there was an increase in eligible voters, thanks in part to automatic voter registration and Undi18, there were about 2,000 fewer votes in Simpang Renggam during the March election compared to 2018.
This is on top of some 16,000 missing new voters in the area, although there is no certainty whether they will vote in the general election either.
Maszlee is also facing stacked odds.
Not only is a former menteri besar his main opponent, but the current menteri besar, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, is also a state assemblyperson in the Machap seat, which falls under the Simpang Renggam parliamentary constituency.
This has resonated with some voters, such as tailor shop owner Abdul Rahman Samadi, 60, who is not so impressed by Maszlee’s first-term performance.
“Hasni is also the Benut assemblyperson, which is my father’s hometown. It’s just beside Simpang Renggam, so I believe most of the people here will know him.
“Look at Benut, it’s much more developed than Simpang Renggam now, the road, the street lights and the trees there are better and more beautiful than here.
“Hasni is also very friendly to the people. He will attend events and kenduri if he is invited,” Rahman told Malaysiakini.
Rahman and his friend, who declined to be named, both said they voted for Maszlee in 2018 as part of the wave of dissent against then-BN chief Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB scandal.
However, disappointed with Harapan’s 22 months in office and with Najib behind bars, the duo said they will be returning back to BN’s fold.
Asked about whether they were concerned that BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will become prime minister, the duo said this was unlikely to happen as the former is facing corruption cases in court.
Simpang Renggam is witnessing a four-cornered fight in GE15. Besides Maszlee and Hasni, the other two candidates are PN’s Mohd Fazrul Kamat (Bersatu) and GTA’s Kamal Kusmin (Pejuang). - Mkini
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