SPECIAL FEATURE With only three days left before the voters of Teluk Intan pick their choice in one of the most hotly-contested by-elections in recent times, the Indian community could once again hold the trump card in deciding the winner.

With a majority of the 42 percent Chinese electorate expected to back DAP, and a majority of the 38 percent Malay electorate expected to back BN, it could fall on the Indian electorate to decide if there is any major swing in overall votes for either party.

“BN knows that it is very difficult for them to win Chinese support. There is little possibility that the fielding of a Malay candidate by DAP could take some Malay votes away from the BN.

“So, it is the Indian votes that the the BN is going all out for,” DAP’s Batu Gajah MP V Sivakumar told Malaysiakini .

This was illustrated by an elaborate function organised by BN and some pro-government NGOs in Teluk Intan last night, to introduce DAP members who have “ jumped ” over to BN.

All the “members” concerned turned out to be Indians, but none offered proof of the authenticity of their DAP membership.

Indians make up 19 per cent of the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat voters, or to be precise 11,500 voters out of the total 60,349 voters.

And history shows that this is not the first the time that Indians would have decided a by-election in Teluk Intan.

Indian BN parties come out in force

After the death of Gerakan leader Ong Ting Kim in 1997, a by-election was called, and very few would have placed a bet on M Kulasegaran ( left ), the then DAP candidate, to win the seat.

Ong was a popular figure and even has a school named after him in the town.

But after a series of small mishaps and enforcement of controversial regulations (among those, reportedly the restriction of Indians celebrating temple festivals), the Indian sentiment against BN was so strong that they overwhelmingly voted for DAP and Kulasegaran.

DAP won roughly 80 percent of the Indian votes in that by-election.

Coupled with the fact that the Gerakan president then, Dr Lim Keng Yaik, reportedly said BN did not need Chinese votes to win the seat, the backlash was a stunning one for Gerakan and BN.

In the 2008 general election, the factor of DAP fielding M Manogaran as their candidate, and momentum from the Hindraf rally led to an overwhelming number of Indian voters to cast their ballots for DAP, resulting in a slim victory for the opposition party.

In the last general election, DAP won an overwhelming 65 percent of the Indian votes in the constituency, while BN, as some of their own leaders admitted, though  without concrete fugures, performed “very badly”.

It is estimated that BN won just over 3,000 Indian votes. Many local BN leaders have attributed this to the party’s failure to venture into estates and Indian-concentrated areas to campaign.

And this is probably why this time around, the BN brought in as many of its Indian parties and allies as possible to campaign in this by-election.

Among them are MIC, Indian Progressive Front (IPF), Makkal Sakti Party, Malaysian Indian Unity Party (MIUP), and also the little -known Malaysian Indian Association (MIA), which is a new entry to BN.

Each party, with a van and blaring loudspeakers, have been venturing into estates and Indian housing areas, and organising small group ceramah sessions and giving out goodies such as rice and other basic necessities - a tactic that dates back to previous general elections.

These BN components obviously see the Indian voters of Teluk Intan as people who need the most basic help - such as with government registration for aid programmes, in filling out forms and so on.

Knocking on doors

And although it can’t match BN’s promises, DAP is also working extra hard to maintain its Indian support.

While organising major ceramah to attract the town crowd, a proven DAP strategy, the party’s Indian leaders have been spending almost every evening walking door to door, knocking on every house to plead for votes.

And while they can’t give out goodies, PAS Muslimat members have helped out by handing chocolate bars and candies to the Indian children.

During one such walkabout,  a stocky, middle aged man, passionately tells Sungkai assemblyperson A Sivanesan ( left ) that he would never forget what Sivanesan had done for him.

Later on, Sivanesan, a lawyer, explained that he had got the man out of jail when the latter was detained without trial.

DAP leaders who are used to campaigning in front of different races admit that the expectations of the Malay, Chinese and Indian voters in this country greatly differ.

“For the Indians, you must show that you care. They want you to be very close to them,” one of the leaders said.

And certainly, it would seem that with BN also knocking on their doors, the Indians in Teluk Intan have been getting very close attention and care during this by-election.

In the end, the Indian community's voting pattern will reflect which political approach has pleased them most - the goodies handed out by the BN or Pakatan Rakyat’s message of change and welfare.

With Teluk Intan voters having made some surprise choices several times in the past, this by-election will be far from predictable.

RAM ANAND is a member of the Malaysiakini team.

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