Muda man banks on BN’s dwindling popularity in Kepala Batas

 

Muda’s Kepala Batas candidate, Danial Majeed, talking to fishermen in Penaga. (Danial Majeed pic)

BUTTERWORTH: Muda’s Danial Majeed is banking on Barisan Nasional’s dwindling popularity and unresolved issues in Kepala Batas to help him oust the coalition’s candidate from its stronghold in a four-cornered contest.

The parliamentary seat – once represented by former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi – has been a safe deposit for BN in the last five decades.

But for Danial, 26, the “flag war”, which BN appears to have won, is very telling. The coalition, he said, is “overcompensating”.

“If he is a winnable candidate, and everyone ‘sayang’ (loves) him, you don’t need that many flags,” he told FMT, referring to BN’s two-term MP, Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

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BN may have won the ‘flag war’, but not the battle, says Danial Majeed.

“Penang voters are not swayed by flags but will support a corruption-free administration that practises good governance.”

During a recent visit to a “black area” (BN stronghold) in Penaga, Danial, an engineer, said people have opened up to him, while in the past, opposition parties were shooed away.

He said the fisherfolk there are upset over the dearth of licences from the fisheries development board.

“They have a lot of unsettled issues,” Danial, formerly from Perak Road, said. “Padi farmers are upset over expensive weed killers and despite repeated calls to their MP, nothing has been done. This is a BN minister’s seat, mind you.”

He said this was why Reezal “knows that Muda is an urgent threat” to BN.

“He has been too comfortable over the years. Should Muda win the seat, it would be a wake-up call to him and others who think their seats belong to them alone.”

Danial contended that while the senior voters might side with BN, the youths were fully for Muda.

There are some 40,000 voters aged 18 to 39 in Kepala Batas, making up half of the electorate.

Reezal won the seat in 2013 and retained it in the last general election with a 4,736-vote majority.

Apart from Danial and Reezal, the others vying for the seat are Perikatan Nasional’s Dr Siti Mastura Mohamad and Pejuang’s Hamidi Abu Hassan. - FMT