GE13 WATCH PKR's Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusoff is expected to be dropped from the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat, paving the way for an outsider to battle in the constituency often described as the last bastion of the Malay heartland on the island of Penang.

NONE Speculation surrounding his candidacy was somewhat sealed when state PKR chief Mansor Othman (left) reportedly declared newbie Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik as the candidate for Balik Pulau to PKR members and supporters in Titi Teras early this month.

Bakhtiar, who lives in Bukit Gelugor, is a marketing graduate, a company manager and known to be a staunch supporter of PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim.

NONE It is learnt that Yusmadi is being been sidelined despite the PKR Balik Pulau division proposing  his name and state legislative assembly speaker Abdul Halim Hussein as the second choice for the parliamentary seat.

Yusmadi (left) , a lawyer who lives in Kuala Lumpur, is said to have been “sacrificed” as he is too brazen and outspoken against the Penang PKR leadership and failed to endear himself to his bosses, especially Mansor.

Yusmadi, when contacted, declined to comment on the status of his candidacy, but he can be expected to feel slighted upon hearing about Bakhtiar for his seat - and might even agree to being sent to a seat in Kuala Lumpur, especially after Anwar’s message to supporters to put party above seat interests.

azlan Mansor, who is also Penang deputy chief minister, denied that a public announcement about the PKR candidate for Balik Pulau has been made, saying “we have to wait a few days more”.

Asked if an outsider could be accepted in Balik Pulau, as voters there are most likely to support a local candidate, Mansor said “we do not know yet”.

Said a party insider who requested anonymity: “Yusmadi does not know how to 'bodek'  the bosses. So when some of the village heads complained about him, their words are instantly taken to be true.

“But bringing in a stranger is going to spell trouble for PKR in Balik Pulau,” the source added, saying that outsiders will have little chance of winning the seat comprising of  60 percent Malays.

Keen contest

The rural constituency has been an Umno stronghold since 1969, with former Penang deputy chief minister Hilmi Yahya still enjoying much support from all the communities there. He won the Balik Pulau seat with a huge 12,937-vote majority in 2004.

azlan In 2008, despite being a local boy, Yusmadi scraped through with a 708-vote majority against the not-quite-popular Dr Norraesah Mohamad in what is known as the largest constituency in Penang with the least number of voters at 39,765.

PKR also won three other parliamentary constituencies - Bayan Baru, Nibong Tebal and Permatang Pauh - and captured nine state seats, with 19 held by DAP and PAS one, against Umno’s 11 seats in 2008.

In the last three elections, PKR fielded Mansor twice and academician Rohana Ariffin once, but both failed to secure the seat against Umno, which holds three state seats, held by Hilmi (Telok Bahang), Muhd Farid Saad (Pulau Betong) and Syed Ameruddin Syed Ahmad  (Bayan Lepas), but they all made only marginal wins in 2008.

This time, it is quite clear that Umno wants to wrest the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat back if only to prove that it is the true defender of Malays and Islam, but PKR and its Muslim counterpart PAS is not giving up without a fight.

 

azlan Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his deputy  Muhyiddin Yassin have visited the constituency often enough in the past year to show how important it is for Umno  to recapture the seat.

One of the party’s strategies is to continuously harp on allegations that the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has marginalised the Malays by bringing development to Balik Pulau to cause the “disappearance” of Malay villagers there.

Hilmi, who is eyeing the seat with another potential contender, Muhammad Farid, recently told the media that he is worried about the the DAP-led administration purposely planning to rid Balik Pulau of the many Malay kampung there.

But Malay villagers are not the only communities affected by development in Balik Pulau, as Chinese and Indian settlements there would attest, saying their problem began some 20 years ago, under the BN administration.

Close to 500 villagers, from Kg Kuala Jalan Baru (32 households), Kg Binjai (17), Kg Teluk Kumbar (16), Kg Bukit Kecil Sg Pinang (nine), Kg Pondok Upeh (six), Kg Bagan Ayer Intam and Kg Paya Teluk Kumbar (one each) have faced eviction and taken their cases to court.

Views for and against Yusmadi

Yusmadi has been constantly engaging with these communities, working on the ground and fighting their legal cases until some managed to obtain proper compensation from the developers.

Hashim Ismail of Kampung Binjai said no one else was more qualified than Yusmadi to run in Balik Pulau as he has taken up about 10 legal cases and that he had vowed never to contest there again even if one village faced eviction.

The 49-year old businessman urged the PKR leadership to consult the Balik Pulau residents and village communities before selection of candidates so that the right person could serve the constituency.

“ NONE They should not pick those who support them only. They should come down to the ground and ask us, the people who are living here. As far as I know, we want Yusmadi. He is a local boy and more than that, he has been very concerned over issues from the ground,” said the head of the Kampung Binjai village action group.

Edward Tan (left) of Kampung Kuala Jalan Bahru said the villagers appreciate Yusmadi’s role in bringing their cases to court and to Parliament.

“He taught us how to defend our human rights, as in fighting for our housing rights. These lessons are valuable, not only for now, but for our future generations,” said the 41-year-old manager of a human resources company.

“It is good of the federal government to dish out money to the residents but what is that compared to educating us of our rights? I am afraid the village people can sometimes be easily influenced by this,” added the Kampung Nelayan Cina village action committee secretary.

NONE Jegadesan Muniandy thinks Yusmadi is the right person to keep the Balik Pulau seat as he has personally intervened in the housing crisis of the residents there, and being a local boy, this made it easier for Yusmadi to penetrate the home ground.

“Those who know about Yusmadi’s contribution will support him in this election, though he has limitations as an opposition MP, since he does not enjoy federal allocations that the three Umno assemblymen get to develop Balik Pulau,” said the 48-year-old engineer.

However, this is not a view shared by Yusmadi’s opponents in Balik Pulau, who dismissed him as a “non-performing MP” since he assumed the post five years ago.

NONE Balik Pulau BN coordinator Siti Faridah Arshad said Yusmadi would lose the seat if his boss Anwar Ibrahim fields him there again.

“He is only good at talking at ceramah sessions and to the press, being a lawyer. But he does not do his work in the ground,” said Siti Faridah.

“He’s been telling people that he assisted those who faced eviction in their villagers but he did not help those in Teluk Kumbar. They finally had to turn to their assemblyman, Syed Ameruddin,” she added.

“Moreover, none of the state government policies have helped anyone in Balik Pulau. I don’t hate Yusmadi, for he too is a local person. But  I am just telling the truth, that the people here have wasted these five years giving their support to Pakatan.”

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