Wan Azizah preaches in BN stronghold but finds the converted

RANTAU POLLS | Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail delved into enemy territory tonight, speaking at a small ceramah in Kampung Sri Lalang, Rantau.

Based on parliament-level data from the 14th general election, BN received backing from 56.7 percent of Kampung Sri Lalang voters, while Pakatan Harapan and PAS received 37.4 percent and 4.4 percent of votes respectively.

Securing support from the predominantly Malay polling district would be a major boost for Harapan.

However, while some 200 people attended the ceramah, many of those in attendance appeared to be members of PKR or other Harapan component parties.

One man Malaysiakini spoke to was a Harapan volunteer who came all the way from Pahang to help with the campaign.

The bulk of the crowd dispersed immediately after Wan Azizah left the ceramah at 9pm, with just a handful stayed on to listen to local speakers.

The former PKR president herself appeared to be aware that not many locals were in the crowd after the crowd told her they "boleh" (can) support PKR's candidate for the Rantau by-election, Dr S Streram.

"Those who say boleh, can you vote? Sometimes you say boleh, but you can't vote. Cakap banyak, action je (It's all talk)," she said in a lighthearted tone.

"What we want is to send this message to voters," she added.

The seemingly poor show of locals could be due to lack of publicity for the talk.

Wan Azizah was only confirmed to be attending the mini-ceramah at around 1pm today, giving campaign workers little time to promote the event.

Malaysiakini understands that campaigners are facing some difficulties working around the schedules of top Harapan leaders, who now hold government posts.

Another factor could be lack of support for Harapan in the polling district.

"This is still a BN stronghold," Hassam Dollah, 65, told Malaysiakini.

Hassam (above, left), whose wife Kamisah Mat Shah is the Kampung Sri Lalang PKR women's chief, said only up to 400 people actively support Harapan in the district.

This is about as many votes that the coalition received at the parliamentary level in the last general election.

Kampung Sri Lalang PKR secretary Shamsuri Mustafa, however, was more optimistic.

He said some 50 people from Umno had jumped ship to PKR after the last election.

While admitting that BN has the upper hand, Shamsuri said he believes Harapan can close the gap with BN come polling day on April 13.

"It's going to be 50-50," Shamsuri said.

Prior to her speech, Wan Azizah also spent some time visiting two homes in Kampung Sri Lalang.

The Rantau by-election is a four-corned fight between Streram, Umno acting president Mohamad Hasan, as well as independent candidates R Malar and Mohd Nor Yasin.

The seat fell vacant after the Federal Court upheld a decision to void Mohamad's walkover win in the 2018 general election.

This stemmed from the returning officer's move to block Streram from filing his nomination papers to run for the seat.

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