ANALYSIS BN’s Teluk Intan by-election candidate Mah Siew Keong is no stranger to the voters in this constituency, having served there for the past 19 years as an assemblyperson, parliamentarian and also, the last  six years as a politician without any position.

Since the announcement of his candidature , the 53-year-old Gerakan president has conducted a rather low-key campaign for the by-election.

The media had to wait for three days before Mah’s camp finally started coordinating and sending out the former deputy minister’s campaign schedules.

On a regular day, in fact, Mah’s calender can be much, much more packed than that of Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, the DAP’s 27-year-old candidate who has been grabbing most of the headlines since her candidacy for the seat was announced.

Mah focuses not on ceramah alone, but instead spends more time addressing small groups of residents, in events organised by BN component parties. And wherever he goes, a rather stoic looking Mah does not campaign vigorously.

“You all know me, I have been here before, and I have served here before. I was born here and I know this area well,” he says succinctly to a group of Indian residents during a short talk organised at a kindergarten in Taman Aman Desa, a predominantly Indian neighbourhood.

He does not mention Dyana’s name even once, and instead focuses on reminding the people of what he had done before in the constituency, between 1999 and 2008, when he was the MP.

This tone is reflected in all his campaign activities - everything is done in modesty and with no grandeur at all.

Drums of war dead

In a recent interview, Mah conceded that grand dinners, lucky draws or concerts, which are extravagant events BN had attempted to use to woo voters before, no longer work.

And to a certain extent, Mah’s insistence in not mentioning Dyana and not engaging in warfare politics in this by-election has been somewhat adhered to by his BN colleagues.

While on the campaign trail, even senior leaders focus on Mah and refuse to take the opportunity to criticise Dyana even in front of their own supporters.

But while his campaign is being managed in a rather modest and clean manner, Mah’s most vulnerable  Achilles heel could be his dependence on component parties.

While DAP has been relentless in promoting its daily schedule, with a clear message being sent through posters and activities, Mah’s campaign appears rather messy as they are organised by various component parties.

Umno organises events at the Malay stronghold areas such as Changkat Jong, while a host of Indian parties- Makkal Sakthi and the new BN component Malaysian Indian Association (MIA) are organising programmes for him to gather the Indian crowd.

Mah arrives as the special guest, spares a few minutes of his time, reinforcing his message on his local issues track record, and then rushes off  to the next speaking engagement.

Free wheeling BN Boleh campaigning

When he is not there, the component parties have their own programmes under different names and forms, and every component party and allies - ranging from Umno, MCA, BN Youth, Makkal Sakthi, IPF, PPP, MIC and MIA - have set up their own operations centres for the by-election.

A drive through the prominent areas of the town will show a BN operations centre at almost every kilometre, and sometimes, more than one in the same neighbourhood.

MIA, for example, in trying to make its presence felt in the constituency, is having a host of programmes over next week, as it is meeting Indian voters door-to-door almost every day. Most of these programmes are being done without Mah being enlisted.

Without the candidate in tow, BN’s campaign takes its own form in this by-election. Mah is not the poster boy for BN in this by-election, like how Dyana, rightfully, has been made the poster girl and the “face” of DAP.

And it remains to be seen whether the component parties will deliver messages similar to Mah’s when he hits  the campaign trail in person.

Aside from that fact, Mah is also lacking a clear agenda for the future. There is a consistent message, but no proper agenda for the by-election.

There has been no talk of a manifesto from his side, and even though DAP and Dyana have outlined GST and the cost of living as their main issues and positioning the by-election as a referendum against racial politics, Mah has not started sending out a clear message for the future.

The best assurance he is able to give the people is that he will take care of their welfare, like he had done before - while avoiding  touching on any national issues. In fact, Mah does not even rebut issues such as the GST and living costs that are played up by DAP on a regular basis.

While Mah is doing justice to his image as a well-liked man in the constituency, the apparent unwillingness of even his BN colleagues to hand out extravagant promises to the constituents in the campaign trail shows that the coalition is being very calculative in outlining what it can and cannot do for Teluk Intan.

Real gentleman when campaigning

There is no open display of goody bag deliveries, or small handouts. The crowd that gathers for Mah is an organised crowd within a limited space, and this is in contrast to the steady rise in the number of people who trickle in every evening at DAP ceramah sessions to catch a glimpse of Dyana.

By refraining from discussing Dyana, Mah is not only overlooking her weaknesses, but also areas in which Dyana and DAP are doing it right in the campaign trail.

He is not social media savvy, does not connect with voters beyond the face-to-face meetings, and has a team for whom media engagement does not appear to be the number one priority.

When the shutterbugs open on him, Mah express surprise about the media following him everywhere. “Are you not tired?” he asks warmly. While he has no qualms, he appears to be comfortable campaigning away from all the attention.

In contrast, Dyana is basking in the attention she has been attracting from the shutterbugs.

The gap in generation and political approach looks more apparent with every passing day.

While he may retain his charm and track record, the ballots will most probably be decided by pledges for made for the future, not on past glories. And this is where Mah faces his biggest challenge.

While there are many component parties pulling their weight around him, with no single party appearing to take the lead, let alone his own Gerakan party- Mah’s campaign could be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

RAM ANAND is a member of the Malaysiakini team.

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