The folks living around Port Dickson must think they are having a fiesta. The area which was once "out of bounds" due to the outbreak of Nipah virus not long ago is again the centre of national attention.

Old motels around the town, which more often than not experience low occupancy, even during peak seasons, are surprisingly fully booked, just like the many higher status hotels that dot the sea-front. Hawker stalls have sprouted up to cater for the needs of the many political party supporters and visitors that throng the area since Tuesday. Business is good, at least for the moment.

Underneath the excitement and thriving business, however, an important decision is yet to be made. One that will have a bearing on the livelihood of those who live in Teluk Kemang. This Saturday, they will be going to the poll to vote for a candidate that will serve them for at least the next four years as their wakil rakyat .

From the start, Barisan Nasional has already proclaimed with confidence that Teluk Kemang will be theirs to keep. Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself described BN chances of winning the by-election with a bigger majority as "good". After all, the late S.A Anpalagan won the seat for the BN last November by a whooping 9,942 votes.

The BN candidate this round, S. Sothinathan, believed that the "intensive campaigning" by all BN component parties led by Abdullah and Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Isa Abdul Samad will boost his chances of winning with a higher majority.

Indeed, the "confidence" shown by BN is not without basis. By the fact of incumbency coupled with its massive political machinery firmly in place, BN chances seem better than its opponent's. The last and only time an opposition ever won the seat was during the 1969 general elections when DAP won the seat; since 1974,.Teluk Kemang parliamentary has been held by BN.

Furthermore, the ingrained socio-political dependency on BN and the psychological make-up of its residents will not make it any easier on the opposition, whose candidate is KeADILan's Ruslan Kassim. This is especially true among the many Chinese and Indian residents in Teluk Kemang. The "we can't do without BN" or "there'll not be government assistance (or 'compensation') if we don't vote BN" are still sold as campaign pitches by the BN.

Teluk Kemang folks are made to think they really have no choice. One can only wonder if such is indeed "support" in substance for the incumbent party.

Therefore, it is not surprising that in "pleading" with the constituents in Lukut (one of five state constituencies making up the parliamentary seat under contest), state assemblyman Dr. Yeow Chai Thiam "promised" the pig farmers he could continue to help "resolve their plight" in return for their votes for BN.

Lukut is one area badly affected by the Nipah outbreak. It is also marked as a BN "grey area" where support is not guaranteed. As reported by Sunday Star, the medical-practitioner-turned politician told the pig farmers that he "understood their sorrow" when they lost money and lives to the Nipah epidemic.

Throwing in a hint of his connections to the power-handlers, Yeow said, "If you (the pig farmers) don't give your support to Barisan, how can I face the two ministers here (referring to Agriculture Minister Mohamed Effendi Norwawi and Health Minister Chua Jui Meng) and present your problems to them?"

Although DPM Abdullah said on Tuesday that "the compensation for the pig-farmers was decided long ago and had nothing to do with the Teluk Kemang by-election", the actions and speeches by certain BN campaigners, especially those from MCA, clearly betrayed their hidden insecurities.

As the polling date draws nearer, the farmers finally received their due compensation. On May 28 about 468 pig farmers received their compensation of RM70 for every pig culled during the outbreak of the Nipah virus. At the presentation of cheques, BN candidate and lawyer Sothinathan was blatantly introduced to the affected villagers ("[#1] By-election campaign 'racially motivated', says MB[/#] ", May 30).

Obviously, Abdullah was wrong when he said "the opposition can no longer use" the Nipah outbreak as an issue, especially now that most pig farmers have already received their compensation. On the outset, Abdullah and BN have forgotten to tackle a more relevant question: Are those affected by the outbreak satisfied with the compensation?

It is not surprising then that the opposition makes it an election issue. As argued by KeADILan vice-president Tian Chua, the government has not published a detailed report on Nipah outbreak. He insisted that the government approach of just compensating the pig-farmers RM70 for every pig culled never really resolved the issue.

"What about those who died in the outbreak? What about those whose lives are broken, those who are disabled, and those who lost their jobs and family members?" the opposition leader asked.

At the same time, Health Minister Chua Jui Meng was never made accountable for all the blunders of his administration. First, there was the Coxsackie virus outbreak in Sarawak. Then, the Nipah outbreak. Recently, there were cases of HIV-tainted blood. Problems after problems seems to occur under Chua's stewardship.

Based on these development, it is not surprising that Bernama reported yesterday that BN has to concentrate in the five areas they "lost out" in the last general election, namely Pengkalan Kempas, Bukit Pelanduk, Sungai Nipah, Taman Indah and Kuala Lukut.

Yes, except for Pengkalan Kempas, the other four areas were affected by the Nipah outbreak.