Shahril leans into his Chinese side in bid to secure non-Malay votes

GE15 | There’s a place in Machap Baru, Malacca known as ‘Meihua Walk’ or Plum Blossom street which is lined with thousands of red lanterns during Chinese New Year, where many Malaysians flock to enjoy the festivities.

BN’s Alor Gajah candidate Shahril Sufian Hamdan aims to elevate the area’s popularity to an international level and some voters there also want Shahril to be around often as well - as their MP.

“Once you are YB (yang berhormat - an honorific for elected representatives) come visit lah,” said a Machap Baru voter during Shahril’s visit to the street on Tuesday.

Machap Baru is a small town in Alor Gajah that has deep MCA roots, with even a nearby recreational park named after five-term Malacca assemblyperson Poh Ah Tiam, who served in three constituencies from 1986 to 2007.

However, the predominantly Chinese community’s loyalty to MCA fractured in 2018, where 79.7 percent of the polling district’s 2,032 voters voted for Bersatu’s Mohd Redzuan Yusof - who was then with Pakatan Harapan.

Only 19.5 percent voted for MCA’s Wong Nai Chee at the time and PAS’ Nazree Aris received 0.8 percent of the votes.

That same year, MCA - who had won Alor Gajah with 60.8 percent of votes in 2013 - was crushed as their vote share dropped to 38.7 percent.

Redzuan won the seat with 50.7 percent of votes, while PAS bagged 10.6 percent.

The Machap Jaya seat also fell to PKR’s Ginie Lim in the 2018 polls.

However, the opposition’s fortunes were reversed in last year’s state election - albeit with votes deeply divided.

In 2018, Chinese voters were 23 percent of Alor Gajah’s electorate, while Malays were 62 percent, Indians 13 percent, and other races 1 percent.

While Malay votes alone could bag the seat for BN if it can woo back some from Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN) - Shahril is determined to get Chinese votes on his side as well, including those in Machap Baru.

‘Handsome’ Shahril popular with the ladies

On the campaign trail, Shahril would frequently pay homage to his half-Chinese heritage on his mother’s side, who is from Jasin, to convince voters that despite not being raised here, he held strong roots in the land.

The Umno information chief would occasionally use phrases in Mandarin such as “Wo keyi jiang yi diandian” (I can speak a little bit), impressing local aunties who often regarded him as very handsome.

Even during his ceramah on Tuesday night at the Koperasi Machap Baru Apartments, of which there were about 250 attendees, he reminded constituents that despite him being half Malay he was committed to supporting and uplifting the Chinese community.

“I follow my father’s example, because he was open and accepting towards my mother’s family. And when my mother entered Islam upon marrying my father, there were no barriers with her family in Jasin.

“That is why I would visit Jasin every week when I was younger until I grew up,” he told the majority Chinese crowd, with promises to provide SJK (C) Machap Baru’s hall a new air conditioner and find solutions to the overcrowded cemetery nearby.

For someone who portrayed himself as the underdog, having to go up against a former minister and Malacca’s former chief minister in a four-cornered fight, it is a tactic that appears to be working relatively well in his favour.

50-50 fight

Many locals Malaysiakini met in Machap Baru believed it would be a 50-50 fight between Harapan and BN.

“We used to have Ginie Lim (as an assemblyperson) and thought she was very good, but it was barely five years. Now she’s no longer here,“ said a 70-year-old who only wished to be known as Ng.

He was referring to when PKR’s Lim was dropped as the Machap Jaya candidate in last year’s Malacca polls which ultimately saw MCA’s Ngwe Hee Sem win the seat by a slim 938-vote majority.

“Now it’s (former chief minister) Adly Zahari (that has been fielded for Harapan). Everyone is saying they don't know who to vote for.

“But based on what I have heard it’s 50-50. We don’t know Shahril but we have known Adly for a while, everyone here knows him,” the retired frame maker added.

The father of two said his children will, however, come back tomorrow to vote.

Meanwhile, for a rubber tapper who only identified himself as Koh, many Chinese in the area would mostly vote “red”.

“They won’t give (their votes to) BN. There are some, such as MCA members, who would give it.

“MCA used to be very strong here, people used to be scared. Including my grandfather and mother,” he said.

In the middle of Malaysiakini’s conversation with Koh, his friend known as Anthony arrived on a motorcycle and pointed towards tents being set up nearby, asking what the occasion was.

Koh replied: “Tonight there is food. (From) BN”.

Anthony responded, “Makan free, eh?” (Free meal) which was affirmed by Koh.

Anthony, who has lived in Machap Jaya for over 20 years, insisted the writer attend that night’s free dinner.

When asked if he genuinely supported BN or merely wanted a free meal, he said that his heart didn’t know who it supported.

“I don’t know yet who I will vote for but food is food. They (the politicians) are all the same,” he quipped.

However, he said he also believed it would be a close 50-50 fight.

Hopeful underdog

For Shahril, he feels his prospects are encouraging.

“I don’t want to read too much into things. I want to assume I’m still chasing (for support) because I think it’s fair to say on nomination day I was the underdog.

“I want to think of myself as someone who is chasing because two other candidates are quite big figures.

“BN’s greatest strength is its ground network and we are able to benefit from years of research and institutional memory and knowledge at a local level to know which areas to target more and what kind of approach works best with the people in that particular area,” he told Malaysiakini when met on the campaign trail.

Adly optimistic

However, his top contender, Adly was also optimistic with his only challenge being the size of the constituency, which he said was 37 percent the size of Malacca.

“Based on some analysis from our internal survey, more than 80 percent of Chinese and Indians will support Harapan in Alor Gajah.

“For the Malays, I think it's more than 25 percent (for Harapan) because people in Alor Gajah know their local candidates, which will be helpful for us,” he said.

During a visit to a night market on Wednesday in Durian Tunggal, Adly was greeted by new and old voters who immediately recognised and greeted him as “YB”.

This includes trader Yaakob Omar who used to be a BN supporter before switching to Harapan in 2018 and is now an Amanah member.

When asked why he favoured Harapan over the other parties, he said that BN merely stole from the rakyat, whereas PN candidate Redzuan was a “katak” (political frog).

“Have your parents ever taught you to steal? They don’t teach you that and yet they (the government) do it. Our current leaders steal. So what do we do?” the 60-year-old added.

Fighting chance for Pak Wan

While it may seem that the battle is mostly shaping up between Harapan and BN, incumbent MP Redzuan, who is also known as Pak Wan, still has a fighting chance.

For a first-time voter in her 20s who only gave her name as Aisya, her vote will be for Redzuan.

Elaborating, the Durian Tunggal resident said it was because she wanted PN to be the ruling government, adding that her family would be voting for the same.

A rojak seller and his wife - who declined to be named - said they voted for BN back in 2018 but are conflicted this time around. However, Redzuan is still an option for them.

“He's okay, he goes to the ground and is a former minister, whereas the other candidate is a former chief minister,” the rojak seller said.

“Shahril too is young, aggressive and works hard. I don’t know how he works but this is based on listening to his campaign.

“Adly is okay too, I talked to him about the rising cost of fruits and he told me he would find a solution, which was also relayed to me by Shahril.

“All these three candidates are good. I will choose in the moment (on polling day) with God’s power,” he added.

Also contesting in the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat is Pejuang’s Muhammad Nazriq Abdul Rahman.

During the Malacca state election last year, across Alor Gajah’s five state seats, BN won all of them with a total vote share of 46.4 percent.

Harapan came in second with 30.5 percent of votes, followed by PN with 21 percent.

The winner will be known soon as Malaysians will go to the polls tomorrow.

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