GE14 | Kedah is one of the key battleground states in Pakatan Harapan’s bid for power in this general election, but one might not have guessed by the seemingly slow pace of campaigning in the state and the lack of mega-ceramahs seen in other states so far.

Even at the small-scale ceramah kelompok and the few larger ceramahs, a strange phenomenon emerges: The crowd tends to either stay close to the speaker or watch from a distance, leaving a gap in the middle. This is especially evident in Kedah’s rural Malay heartland...