GE14 | Kulim-Bandar Baharu. As the name suggests, this swing seat in the southern tip of Kedah bordering Penang and Perak is made up of two towns.

In his bid for re-election, incumbent Umno MP Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir is assuring voters that the upgrade of a connecting road promised in the last election is still in the works.

He believes that the present condition of the road remains a blemish on his otherwise spotless track record of serving his constituents. 

“That highway connecting Bandar Baharu to Kulim, we promised to do it in the last election, but have not done it. That's one issue that those who criticise me will always pick up. That one particular issue.

“But other than that, I think everyone has come to terms with the fact that we have done a lot,” he told Malaysiakini after his successful nomination as the candidate for Kulim-Bandar Baharu yesterday.

Read more: Kulim-Bandar Baharu incumbent wary of Bersatu sympathisers

Aziz explained that the upgrade was promised during the 2013 general election, but the budget earmarked for the project had been reallocated when the Kulim International Airport project was proposed.

The then-Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir – now the state Pakatan Harapan chief – had mooted the project in 2015 to tap into the air cargo and logistics market.

This was said to be due to the Penang International Airport, which is about an hour’s drive from Kulim, expanding its air passenger capacity at the expense of cargo capacity.

Kulim and Penang are already linked by the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, which provides high-speed road access from Kulim to ports and factories in Seberang Perai, the Penang Bridge, and the Penang International Airport.

Kulim also houses several industrial zones, including the Hi-Tech Park.

“But now it seems that the Kulim International Airport is not going to happen. The government has agreed to put that (upgrading the road) as a priority and part of Kedah's manifesto would actually be to complete that road.

“So that is the one issue I need that I need to convince voters that I have tried, I have not done it, but I'm pretty sure that it's going happen soon.

“Other than that, as I have said, we have served the people. We hope that all our hard work will actually be converted into support,” he stated.

Bandar Baharu

Bandar Baharu – the smaller of the two towns in the parliamentary constituency – is currently experiencing something of an economic boom.

The Statistics Department’s latest Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey shows that although the median income in the administrative district of Bandar Baharu is still slightly behind that of Kulim, it had grown by 7.5 percent annually between 2014 (RM3,048 per month) and 2016 (RM3,541 per month).

By comparison, Kulim’s growth rate was a mere 2.7 percent annually over the same period, from RM3,731 per month to RM3,937 per month.

The median household income at the national level is RM5,228 as of 2016, which has grown by 6.6 percent annually since 2014.

However, administrative boundaries don’t always match electoral boundaries, and the administrative district of Kulim also encompasses the entirety of the neighbouring parliamentary constituency of Padang Serai.

Bandar Baharu and Kulim are currently connected by a two-lane road crossing the town of Serdang and several villages.

At times when the Penang portion of the North-South Expressway is clogged by rush-hour traffic, this road one of the alternative routes for traffic from the south to get into Kulim, and vice versa.

Bringing development

Speaking on the recent developments, Aziz also hopes that the new highway would spur even more development in Bandar Baharu once it is built.

“We've got a new medan ikan bakar (food court serving grilled fish) in Bandar Baharu which we hope will attract a lot of traffic from the highway to come to Bandar Baharu. The best mee udang (prawn noodles), the best ikan baung (Mystus fish) […]

“So, all these things I hope would attract a lot of traffic to come to Serdang, to come to Kulim, and also indirectly enhance or increase peoples' income.

“We have also improved the ecotourism places that we have. We have white-water rafting in Sedim. We have a forest reserve where we have nice pine trees, so we have made that to be a very attractive place for wedding pictures. Those are the things that we have championed,” he said.

Kulim-Bandar Baharu is an ethnically mixed semi-urban constituency with 66,587 voters currently on its electoral roll. Of these, 69.18 percent are Malays, 17.65 percent are ethnic Chinese, and 12.87 percent Indian.

The area historically engages in rubber tapping, tin mining, and paddy farming industries, but the latter two had largely been abandoned in favour of business and manufacturing, while oil palm plantations are added to the economic mix.

The seat was held by the Alliance or BN since independence – until 2008, when Zulkifli Nordin, then of PKR, defeated Aziz by 5,583 votes.

He was more fortunate in the 2013 polls, when he beat PKR’s Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and won by just 1,871 votes, about 3.6 percent of ballots cast.

Aziz is also the younger brother of the former minister and five-term Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir.

This time around, Aziz will be having a rematch with Saifuddin, while PAS is fielding its local division chief Hasan Abdul Razak.

The campaign period for GE14 started yesterday after nomination, and will last until polling on May 9.