Muted BN campaign in Tg Karang as local branches differ over candidate

GE15 | The BN candidate for Tanjong Karang may be facing an uphill battle to help the ruling coalition retain the parliamentary seat.

Besides being in a five-cornered fight, Malaysiakini learned that Habibah Mohd Yusof was also facing internal rejection from local Umno members who are more attached to its outgoing MP Noh Omar, who served for six terms since 1995.

Since the Tanjong Karang Umno Women's chief was named to replace Noh, many of the party grassroots members have openly expressed their grievances against the decision.

This was apparent during the nomination day on Nov 5 when only a few hundred BN members came to accompany Habibah, mostly from the party Women’s wing which she leads.

Many of the close to 16,000 Umno members in the constituency were conspicuously missing.

The day before, it is learnt that some supporters almost came to blows among themselves in front of the party office.

A local branch leader in his speech during the candidate's first campaign ceramah on the first night of campaigning said usually thousands of BN supporters would march in support of the coalition’s candidate on nomination day.

"If we look back at the history of Tanjong Karang, usually there were thousands accompanying our candidates (to the nomination centre), but this morning, it was not the case.

"So what does this say? This tells us that we will need to work hard because this election would not be easy for us," said Yusof Saroji, who is Raja Musa Umno branch deputy chief.

Even though Habibah was present, Yusof openly questioned the party's decision to replace Noh, which he described as a move that "only makes things harder" for BN to retain Tanjong Karang.

"In Tanjong Karang, we can actually win the election easily and with a huge majority for BN. But why do we want to change things and face an uphill battle to win (the seat) for BN?" he asked.

Few BN flags

BN announced its decision to field Habibah in Tanjong Karang on Nov 3, a two-day delay from when its chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced BN's list of GE15 candidates.

One of the first obvious rejections came on nomination day when a Tanjong Karang Umno division committee member entered the contest as an independent.

Mohd Rosni Mastol, 59, told reporters that the decision for him to contest as an independent against Habibah was made among several of his friends who are also division members.

"We want to send a message that a leader who is fair will be respected while those who are not will be denied," said Rosni, who is also Noh's special officer at the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry.

He also claimed that many other party members in the constituency were unhappy, and this had led to a number of BN operations rooms in Tanjong Karang closing down.

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While Malaysiakini could not independently verify Rosni's claim about the closing down of the operation rooms, general observation around Tanjong Karang, a constituency located in Selangor’s western coast, found the atmosphere subdued and BN flags were few and far in between, compared to neighbouring Sungai Besar, where the BN division chief Jamal Yunos is contesting.

According to a Tanjong Karang Umno insider, Habibah was also left to campaign on her own without the support of the local branch members, who are normally foot soldiers in election campaigns.

The situation is so dire that a senior division leader was forced to summon Umno branch chiefs in Tanjong Karang over the weekend to discuss the matter.

"The branch chiefs were asked if they want to let BN lose in the election (by not helping Habibah) because, at this juncture, there is no turning around as the nomination period has passed and Habibah is the candidate representing BN," rued a party member when met on Sunday.

Not an impenetrable BN fortress

Although seen as a BN stronghold, it was not an impenetrable BN fortress in 2018, with multiple polling districts in the southern parts of the constituency falling to Pakatan Harapan.

Even in the heart of Tanjong Karang where BN won all polling districts, its victories were sometimes marginal, taking just a little more than a third of votes in a three-way tussle with Harapan and PAS.

In one of the larger polling districts, Sungai Burong Selatan, it won 904 votes, against 868 votes cast for PAS and Harapan.

BN lost an even larger polling district - Hulu Tiram Buruk - with the Harapan candidate getting 46 percent of the vote, against Umno's 42 percent and PAS' 12 percent.

As a result, then Harapan’s candidate, Zulkafperi Hanapi from Bersatu, took 32 percent of the vote, while BN’s Noh took 37 percent.

Although Zulkafperi is contesting again this time, he is doing so under Perikatan Nasional, which may not appeal to his previous voters. This may work to BN’s advantage.

Additionally, Harapan is not contesting the seat, giving way to Muda’s Siti Rahayu Baharin, a political greenhorn against a seasoned politician like Habibah.

Noh’s support

Habibah, meanwhile, tried to play it cool although she is aware of the disgruntlement when quizzed on this by journalists on the campaign trail.

Instead, she positioned herself as Noh’s protege and is confident she can do him proud.

"Alhamdulillah, Tan Sri (Noh) is very supportive, because I am his protege. I am the Women's chief in his division, I was also the first Puteri chief in the division.

"He was the person who first taught me about politics, of course, he is my biggest supporter," Habibah said when met during her campaign round at Kampung Tok Adam.

She declined to comment on Rosni contesting as an independent, saying that it is the man's right to enter the election. Even so, she conceded that it is “normal” for Noh’s diehard fans to feel slighted.

"To me, it's like this... Noh is a leader who has been serving Tanjong Karang for a long time, he has made a lot of contributions here, so surely he has many supporters who are taksub (obsessed) with him.

"This is a normal thing. Later when I become an MP, I would also have my supporters. But what is important now is that the person himself (Noh) is very supportive and helpful to me," she added.

Tellingly, at the end of Day 4 of campaigning, her mentor has yet to stump for Habibah. Instead, Noh Omar has shown up in other constituencies such as Sungai Buloh and neighbouring Kuala Selangor.

Noh’s move to campaign for BN in those constituencies was, according to him, a show of his loyalty despite being unceremoniously dropped.

But perhaps the ultimate test of loyalty is whether he would return to his homestead to put an end to the revolt - thereby boosting Habibah’s chances - and this remains to be seen.

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