Toss up between BN, PH in Balik Pulau

 

A six-cornered fight for Balik Pulau sees many choices for some 80,000-odd voters.

GEORGE TOWN: The battle for Balik Pulau is shaping up to be a tale of two generations, with older voters appearing to favour Barisan Nasional (BN) while the youth wants the constituency to remain under Pakatan Harapan (PH).

A number of older Balik Pulau voters said they were concerned about the high cost of living, flooding and the Penang government’s land reclamation plans.

Some even described former prime minister Najib Razak’s tenure as a “golden era”.

Coffee shop worker Wan Ismail, 50, said the 22 months of PH administration were enough for him to decide to vote for BN.

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Zul Khairy.

“Let us not look at the pandemic,” he told FMT. “How was life for us before that under PH? Compare that 22 months to Najib as PM.

“We have had Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia where we could buy groceries for cheap. Where is it now after PH came over? Have they helped small stalls like us? Not at all, they only gave us RM30 e-wallet credit.”

Asked if Najib’s incarceration had any bearing on him, Wan Ismail said: “At least he gave back money to the people. And people were happy then. It was so messy when PH was around, two people trying to be prime minister,” he said, referring to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim.

Balik Pulau had been a BN stronghold from the earlier elections until PKR won the seat in 2008. In 2013, BN reclaimed the Malay-majority seat, only for PKR to snatch it back under the PH banner in 2018.

Shah Iskandar.

Younger voters appear to have a different perspective, saying PH’s service and stance against corruption were a deciding factor. However, there were some who were upset over the absence of their MP in their constituency over the years.

Zul Khairy, 25, a technician, said he hoped the PH candidate would build better sports facilities for all to use in Balik Pulau town.

“Before the last elections, they said they would give allocations for this. But until now, nothing. But I’m not picking BN for all the court cases their people are involved in, PH is still the best for me,” he said.

Two first-time voters – Syamim Noor Amran, 21, and Shah Iskandar, 26 – want a bigger hospital in Balik Pulau to replace the present one. They said they would likely vote for the opposition but remain undecided.

Syamim Noor Amran

Another issue among Balik Pulau voters is the Penang south islands reclamation issue. A fisherman at Sungai Batu, who did not want to be named, said the reclamation would be “quite devastating” for fishermen.

Balik Pulau is Penang’s second-largest parliamentary constituency after Nibong Tebal and home to the state’s largest Malay electorate (65.2%). Chinese voters make up 29%, Indian voters (4.8%) and voters of other ethnicities (0.9%).

There are 80,264 eligible voters in Balik Pulau with nearly a quarter of them aged between 18 and 29.

PH’s Bakthiar Wan Chik is seeking re-election for a second term, and former assemblyman Shah Headan Ayoob Shah is seeking to regain the seat for BN.

Perikatan Nasional’s Harris Rashid, Pejuang’s Fazli Mohammad and independent candidates Johnny Ch’ng Ewe Gee and Sabaruddin Ahmad make up the other four candidates who will be involved in a six-cornered fight on Saturday. - FMT