In the oil palm and rubber estates of rural Hulu Selangor, the prevailing voter sentiment is uncomplicated. “An Indian votes for another Indian”.

 

NONE “It is as simple as that,” said 36-year-old G Bamah ( left ), a rubber tapper, who has lived in Ladang Changkat Asah all her life.

 

“Since those days it was BN that helped us build our homes and provide work for us,” said Bamah, her voice full of reverence.

Bamah is confident that the BN candidate, P Kamalanathan, will not neglect her people.

 

Like many others who live from hand to mouth, Bamah is illiterate and hardly aware of issues dominating national politics.

 

She is also ignorant of the opposition candidate Zaid Ibrahim, responding. “Isn’t he Malay?”

'Nothing has changed'

Asked about the performance of the Pakatan-run state government the past two years, Bamah said: “Our livelihood has remained the same. It has not changed in Changkat Asah. Maybe because we live so close to Tanjung Malim, they forgot we are their constituents,” she replied.

Residents R Unnamalai and G Raman, also joined in the conversation.

 

NONE Unnamalai ( right ), 63, very affectionately said  “Kamalanathan is our son… of course we must stand by him.

 

“You can ask anyone, and you will find that most of us here prefer BN, ” she emphasised adding that she had instructed her six children to also vote for Kamalanathan.

 However Raman, 32, was more cautious about his revealing his affiliations.

 

“I want to see what they are going to do for us, they still have till Sunday,” he said.

 

According to Raman, they are facing extreme difficulties as the water supply only comes in for an hour daily.

 

“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that the world out there is so modern and yet we don’t even have running water?” he exclaimed.

 

Bamah and Unnamalai also complained about the water.

 

“All we ask is after he (Kamalanathan) wins, he must not neglect us… we trust that he can solve our problems,” they said.

 

MIC is attempting to regain lost ground with the help of the government machinery to boost its image in the rubber and oil palm plantation yesterday.

 

The constituents here were treated to lively stage performance organised by the Information Ministry’s Pentarama, a rare delight for those who live in the interior. 

 

The estate workers were in high spirits, as leaders of the country whom they had only seen on TV, had appeared in person to plead for their support.

 

There were about  200 gathered to greet guest of honour, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

NONE Muhyiddin urged the people to vote for Kamalanathan and urged the people to evaluate what the Pakatan state government has done for them.

 

“PKR’s agenda for the Indians is not clear compared with BN’s, which has already set up a  special committee look into the welfare of Indians, directly under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

 

“PKR has no agenda for the Indian community. I want to challenge PKR to show what their agenda is for the Indians or the other races,” said Muhyiddin.

 

“We understand that Indians have trouble securing loans and that is why BN has allocated RM35 million to help the Indian community to venture into business through the Tekun Nasional initiative which was earlier a privilege enjoyed by the Bumiputeras,” he added.

 

“We recognise the problems now, which we might have overlooked before, but we are serious this time that everything you asked will be fulfilled,” said Muhyiddin in ending his speech.