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 goods and services tax (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...