For some Tg Piai youths, contenders can't fill shoes of the reluctant politician

TG PIAI POLLS | The main contenders in the Tanjung Piai by-election have long political careers to boast about.

MCA's Wee Jeck Seng, 55, succeeded former MCA president Ong Ka Ting in the parliamentary constituency and served as MP for 10 years from 2008, before he was unseated by the late Dr Md Farid Md Rafik.

Karmaine Sardini, 66, who will represent Bersatu to defend Farid's seat, also has had a long political career in Umno before joining the splinter party, starting out as the Pontian Umno committee member as early as 2001.

However, some youths in Tanjung Piai are unimpressed with Wee and Karmaine, despite their track records.

Instead, they spoke fondly about Farid, who despite coming from an Umno family, had no political experience until close to the 2018 general election when he was persuaded by Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad to represent the party as an election candidate for Pakatan Harapan.

Sipping on his hot Milo at a coffee shop in Farid's village, Serkat, Shahdan said the late MP, who passed away just three weeks shy of his 43rd birthday, could easily connect with anyone, including the youths.

"Young or old, Farid would sit with everyone," said the 30-year-old, who only wanted to be known by his first name.

Echoing this was Syam, who said that unlike older politicians, Farid would listen and understand what youths wanted.

Even those from Umno like Serkat Laut branch chief Norhisham Othman spoke fondly of Farid, saying he always kept a “low profile” in the village despite being appointed as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Indeed, despite a long medical career in the UK and Malacca, and later becoming a deputy minister when Harapan took over Putrajaya last year, Farid’s family home remains a humble one.

Situated at the crossroads of Serkat Laut, the family home is a simple kampung house with wooden slatted walls and rust-tinted zinc roof.

 An anesthesiologist by training, Farid, before his passing, admitted that he had spent most of his life on his career and was naive about politics.

It was only when his mother Normah Mohamed, a former Tanjung Piai Wanita Umno branch chief and a party member for 38 years, defected to Bersatu in 2016 that his interest in politics was piqued.

Difficult to replace

His likeability in Serkat and the rest of Tanjung Piai, has made replacing Farid a difficult task for Harapan.

On paper, Farid's Bersatu replacement, Karmaine, has the credentials to be popular in a conservative Malay area like Serkat, having served as an imam in Johor Bahru since 2007.

But for the Serkat youths Malaysiakini spoke to, Karmaine just doesn't appeal to them.

 “That’s him (Karmaine) going around,” Syam remarked as a small convoy carrying Harapan flags made its way through the main road in Serkat, driving past the coffee shop where the 29-year-old and his friends were having evening tea.

“He doesn’t know us, he doesn’t sit down at coffee shops,” he added.

This desire for familiarity appears to be of particular importance for Serkat, which is a tight-knit village located a 10-minute drive away from the southern cape that gives the Tanjung Piai constituency its name.

“Almost everyone here is related,” Norhisham said.

Serkat, a traditional BN stronghold, is one of 22 polling districts in the Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency.

It is predominantly Malay, who make up 97 percent of the population there, while Chinese, Indians and others make up the remaining three percent.

While Farid failed to flip the polling district in the last general election, he still managed to gain 30 percent of the votes in the BN fortress, gaining 366 votes against BN's 844 votes.

This was a marked improvement from the 14 percent of votes that Harapan's predecessor Pakatan Rakyat garnered there in the 2013 general election.

Farid's mother Normah was especially influential, having also been a Wanita Umno branch chief in Serkat.

Such positions carry a lot of weight in rural Malay communities where the local Wanita Umno network is heavily involved in community activities such as weddings, feasts and thanksgiving prayers.

For Shahdan, having Farid as a Malay MP representing Tanjung Piai was a welcome change from MCA.

The fisherman said Wee (below, centre), the former MP, is a good person who helps the community.

But in a closed-knit community, there are expectations for their representative to be rooted in the local community and Wee, who occasionally operates through representatives, does not win points among the youths who spoke with Malaysiakini.

“If Wee sent RM10,000, it passed through a representative and only a little would be left. The old government was not transparent, unlike Farid. It’s hard to find someone like him,” he said.

From Farid-backers to fence-sitters

Shahdan said that many youths in Serkat want a Malay candidate, with his friend Saiful remarking that youths who back Umno, in particular, would have preferred if BN fielded Tanjung Piai Umno chief Jefridin Atan.

But with Jefridin not contesting and Karmaine unfavourable, the question then emerged on whether Berjasa president Badhrulhisham Abd Aziz stood a chance to get a vote.

Many of those around the table flashed sly smiles when this question was asked, before Shahdan remarked: “Berjasa, well we don’t know what their jasa (contributions) are.”

With no appealing candidates in sight, Syam - who like most in the group worked odd jobs around the village - said that youths in Serkat will have a hard time fulfilling their “duty” as voters.

“Koyak la bontot duduk atas pagar (Our rears will hurt from sitting on the fence),” they remarked several times to roaring laughter.

“Who knows, maybe some won’t even go out to vote, because their pants got ripped from sitting on the fence,” Syam added.

With youths who have previously backed Bersatu in the last general election but are now unmotivated to vote, it could spell trouble for Harapan, especially in a contest that is expected to go down to the wire.

In contrast, BN supporters appear unchanged in their preferences.

Across the street from where Syam and Shahdan were, one coffee shop stood out from the rest with its array of BN flags and banners. The local Umno people had set up the polling district centre there.

There, drinking a cup of warm sweet tea was Abu Samah Mat Ali, who is a second cousin to Farid’s mother.

Abu Samah, who is also the Serkat Timur Umno branch chief, said Farid’s passing was a sad moment for the whole village.

But without Farid’s presence now, the 69-year-old is confident that many in the family will go back to voting for BN.

“There are some (who will still vote for Harapan), but many others won’t,” he said.

In the face of possible eroding support in Serkat, Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub - who was born in a house just 200 metres away from Farid's, has stepped up to bring a personal touch for Harapan to Serkat’s voters.

Another Serkat local steps up for Harapan

While Malaysiakini was speaking to Abu Samah and Norhisham, Salahuddin was at another coffee shop just beside the BN centre, and having drinks with locals.

The agriculture minister had driven there alone, without a gaggle of officers or journalists following his every step.

During his chat, Salahuddin called over one of the Umno people at the BN polling district centre to come and join him at his table.

Besides the coffee shop appearance, Malaysiakini observed that Salahuddin had also made other unscheduled campaign visits, including at a small ceramah in Penerok where Karmaine spoke on Sunday night.

Salahuddin made another unexpected appearance at an event in Serkat on Monday, where Abd Rahman Atan, who said he was qa close friend of Farid, received aid from Tenaga Nasional.

Abd Rahman’s house had burned down due to an electrical fire last year. Together with 11 others, their houses would be rebuilt as part of TNB’s zakat community social responsibility programme, together with the Johor Islamic Council.

The opposition has criticised it as an instance of vote-buying but Johor exco member Jimmy Puah, who was supposed to be the only VIP there, said the rebuilding of the houses was approved on Aug 4, when Farid was still alive.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Abd Rahman, who lives 500 metres down from Farid's house, was confident that many people around his age supported Harapan.

“The old people are hardcore BN supporters and are hard to change... but many others have opened their eyes and switched sides because of many government issues,” he said.

However, it is not a mainstream view in a polling district where BN survived despite strong anti-establishment sentiments in the last general election, but Farid's mother Normah is quietly working to ensure Harapan does not lose the progress it has made.

According to campaign workers, Normah is said to be moving together with other Wanita Harapan campaigners, and their schedules have not been shared with the media.

Thus far, the only notable time the media has spotted her since the campaign started was when she attended a Tanjung Piai PKR event last Saturday, where she had a closed-door meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Farid died of a heart attack on Sept 21. He had won the Tanjung Piai seat last year with a 524-vote majority against Wee, who was a two-term MP.

Besides Karmaine, Wee and Berjasa’s Badhrulhisham, the three others vying for the seat are Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam and independents Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar.

Polling day is on Nov 16.