GE14 | In the outskirts of Muar, 40 minutes away from the town, where parit (irrigation canals) line the sides of roads, a small tent has been set up on a wide lawn outside a renovated brick kampung house.

A small group of about 50 tudung-clad young and old Malay women from villages near Sarang Buaya filled the chairs under the tent, on the warm Friday evening of March 2.

The women had been lured to the tent by Johor Harapan's "Kedai Peduli Rakyat," where they could get five essential items for just RM1.

But beyond giving out cheap goods, the sale served as a platform at which Harapan sought to deliver a specialised and fine-tuned message: that the power to decide who governs Johor and Putrajaya lies in the hands of women.

"The hand that rocks the cradle can shake the world," PKR potential-candidate for Sungai Balang, Naim Jusri, told the crowd at the mini-ceramah.

During an earlier Kedai Peduli Rakyat sale near Kampung Sungai Pulai, Johor Amanah Wanita wing chief Norhayati Bachok highlighted how rising costs of living due to the GST and economic mismanagement impacted women and their children.

Norhayati, who is slated to contest the Maharani state seat, said rising costs meant less food on the table and poorer nutrition, which would affect the health and growth of their children.

Maharani and Sungai Balang are the two state constituencies under the Muar parliamentary seat, which will likely be contested by Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

In all three constituencies, women make up 51 percent of voters, according to Harapan's electoral data from the third quarter of 2017.

"Our past research shows that many Malay women (in Johor) also support BN, because they follow how their families vote," Norhayati (right in photo) told Malaysiakini.

"In our campaign, we want to meet with as many women as possible, especially the Malays.

"We want to create political awareness among them, about their role in creating change, because these women tend not to be concerned with politics as they are busy managing their households," Norhayati added.

Syed Saddiq explained that the daytime mini-ceramah sessions were also a good way to reach out to women, who were less likely to venture out to the bigger talks, which are usually held at night.

The women Malaysiakini spoke to after several of the Kedai Peduli Rakyat sale-cum-ceramah sessions in Muar were receptive to the concept.

Housewives Siam Hashim, 51, and her sister Satya, 48, said the sales were a good way to approach women who would not go out to big ceramah sessions.

"I hope this works for them," Siam said when met after one such sale in Parit Samsu on March 16.

Other women said their experience would weigh on their decisions at the ballot box.

"I think I'm going to vote for this (Harapan) rather than them (BN), (because) we get programmes like this, and it opens our minds to think," Iryanti Murthy, 40, said when met in Sarang Buaya.

Meanwhile, a woman who wished to be known only as Yati, said there "was a lot of truth" in what was said during the mini-ceramah.

Besides talking about rising costs, the Harapan speakers at the Kedai Peduli Rakyat talk sessions would also play up benefits offered by the PKR-led Selangor state government, which they promised to bring to Johor as well.

This includes the promise of free water to counter Johor's most expensive water bills, as well as subsidies for clinical visits and aid for single mothers.

But it is not just at the mini-ceramah sessions that the influence of women is played up by Harapan.

At a night ceramah in Sungai Balang on March 2, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar turned on the northern charm that those used to her speaking in the Klang Valley may be unfamiliar with.

While there were far more men in the 200 strong crowd, Nurul Izzah (photo) frequently personalised her speech by addressing it to the mak cik (aunties) rather than the pak cik (uncles).

"I can speak here tonight, but only you mak cik and pak cik can speak to your friends.

"At the coffee shop mak cik, rub the back of Mak Cik Esah. Gently rub and tell her 'mak cik oi, the Umno of today is not like the Umno of before'," Nurul Izzah said, adding that Umno leaders had gone astray and become corrupt.

Bersatu strategy bureau deputy chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan had, in a research paper last year, noted that women make up half of the voters in Johor.

Wan Saiful said that Bersatu, the party leading the charge for Harapan in Umno's birth state, had a difficult time securing support from women, who would traditionally vote for BN.

This, Wan Saiful added, was due to the strong presence of Wanita Umno on the ground and in local communities.