GE14 | The Alor Gajah parliamentary seat in Malacca is an intimidating constituency for electoral campaigning, geographically.

Spanning five state seats, this constituency holds everything, from Felda areas, pockets of isolated villages as well as booming population centres, all of which are separated by swaths of oil palm and rubber plantations.

This makes it time-consuming to get from one end of Alor Gajah to another, especially as many of the roads are narrow and winding.

“From Taman Angkasa Nuri (in the west) all the way here (in the east), it will take at least one hour or so,” BN’s Alor Gajah candidate Wong Nai Chee told Malaysiakini while campaigning at Ladang Bukit Asahan.

Wong had planned his campaign trail carefully to introduce himself to the local BN machinery in all 41 voting districts, as he had not worked in the area before. He was the Kota Melaka MP from 2004 to 2008.

While this seems daunting, his opponent, Pakatan Harapan’s Mohd Redzuan Yusof, with limited resources, is arguably facing a tougher battle.

Redzuan, better known as Pak Wan, a businessperson has no past political experience. He had helped set up Bersatu in Malacca as a favour to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is a close friend.

But as Bersatu expanded in Malacca, he found himself drawn into politics and now finds himself as an election candidate.

Redzuan’s lack of political experience is not the only hurdle he faces. Alor Gajah is considered as MCA’s safest seat as the party garnered the highest majority of all the parliamentary seats it won in the last general election.

MCA revolt dies down

The Alor Gajah BN grassroots were initially upset that MCA's Alor Gajah incumbent Koh Nai Kwong was switched to the state seat of Machap Jaya to make way for Wong, who is the prime minister's political secretary.

But during Wong’s intense schedule to meet with the Alor Gajah local machinery, it appears that the grassroots have made peace as they greeted him warmly.

“My strategy is to go around and ensure that our own basic machinery of BN knows me. If they know me, then they can introduce me to others.

“It is impossible for me to cover 70,000 voters, so I need to go (to the local machinery) so they can spread the word for me,” said Wong.

For Redzuan, as a founding member of Bersatu in Malacca, there was little convincing he needed to do as he had handpicked the local leaders, who make up the Bersatu election machinery in Alor Gajah.

“I am only about two-and-a-half-years-old in politics... The experience that I have in running an organisation, I believe that experience is useful.

"Any shortfall in the organisation will be helped by other component parties," Redzuan told Malaysiakini.

Muhyiddin lent his clout to Redzuan early on in the campaign, where he spoke at a ceramah kelompok in the rural voting district of Pekan Nyalas, Asahan, where BN garnered 1,072 votes out of 1,614 in 2013.

Though overcoming MCA's over 11,000 vote-majority may seem an impossible task, Redzuan believes the sentiment of the people is changing, as evidenced by the respectable turnout at the Pekan Nyalas ceramah kelompok, where 250 people showed up.

Two of the ceramah attendees, Fatimah Ahmad and Azizah Ismail, both used to be staunch BN supporters but with the rise in the cost of living, they are beginning to feel the pinch.

“Who is GST for? We are not well-off, we are village folk.

Last time, if I brought RM50 to the shop, I could fill my basket till it is heavy. Now I can carry RM50 worth of goods on one hand without feeling anything,” the 64-year-old told Malaysiakini.

“I have never once left BN’s side, but this time, things have become so difficult,” Azizah, 68, added.

Growing pains and loyalty

While some BN supporters have begun to sway, in a rural constituency like Alor Gajah, there are also many who remain solidly with BN, regardless of the circumstances.

During Wong's BN campaign in Ladang Bukit Asahan, 80-year-old Tai Yun Chau (photo) gladly pledged her support for him despite various complaints she had.

“I used to get RM300 (from the government) but then they cut it off, so now I can’t even buy my medicine.

“Things are so difficult sometimes, I just don’t want to talk about it,” she said, appearing to get emotional.

“I will vote BN, I’ve always voted BN,” Tai added later.

A former rubber tapper, she said she had never been to school and is now living with her only son and his family.

Her neighbour, Tan Wen Li, also complained about not being able to get BR1M despite being an unemployed widow.

Her husband passed away in 2013, while her two children are married and living in Singapore, she said.

To supplement whatever her children give her for living expenses, Tan said she takes on odd jobs like sewing.

“I only took RM450 from BR1M every year. But they cut me off because they said I have a car,” she said, detailing all the extra paperwork and documents she had to file to re-apply for the BR1M.

But the 56-year-old said she is an MCA member and would continue to support MCA.

While the traditionally BN ground has started shifting against the ruling coalition, it will require a substantial swing to cancel out MCA's five-digit majority, which will prove to be an uphill task for Bersatu's Redzuan.

In the last general election, MCA won Alor Gajah with an 11,597-vote majority, garnering 32,594 votes to DAP's 20,997 votes.

However, DAP has surrendered the Malay-majority parliamentary seat to Bersatu, believing that it can mount the best challenge against BN there.