Ahead of GE15, Shah Alam folk hold cards close to their chest

GE15 | There's just another day left before polling day for the 15th general election (GE15), and the Shah Alam folk are holding their cards close to their chests.

Shah Alam is a large urban constituency with more than 100,000 voters. In 2018, there was 76 percent of Malay voters, 11 percent Chinese, 13 percent Indian and one percent from other ethnicities.

In GE15, the constituency is set to witness a four-way clash among Pakatan Harapan's Azlina Yusof (Amanah), BN's Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil (Umno), Perikatan Nasional's Afif Bahardin (Bersatu) and Gerakan Tanah Air's Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali (Pejuang).

Of the four, Azli, 55, who is defending incumbent Khalid Samad's seat for Harapan, is seen as the unspoken choice of the constituents.

A 46-year-old resident at a PKNS flat in Section 16, who only wanted to be identified as Wan, said he is undecided on who to choose in GE15, after having voted for BN in several past elections.

Politicians' hurling personal attacks against one another during the election campaigning has kept Wan away from attending political ceramah sessions this poll.

Will Harapan retain the seat?

Shah Alam has been a BN stronghold since 1974, until it was unseated by Khalid in 2008, who ran under the PAS ticket.

Since then, the electorate had been voting against BN, even when Khalid left PAS to join Amanah.

Having served in Shah Alam for three terms, Khalid is moving to the Titiwangsa parliamentary seat in GE15.

It is worth noting that in the 2018 general election, Khalid garnered 52 percent of the votes, while the BN and PAS candidates received 21 percent and 14 percent of the votes, respectively.

Although Azli is viewed as a "new face" in the constituency, voters are willing to mind him during campaigning, as he is seen as being part of a team that has served the constituency at the state level.

At a ceramah in Section U10 Shah Alam, many attendees stuck around until the end of the session and even attended his next event in the constituency. 

Others hung around the earlier avenue to listen to PKR's Batu Tiga and Kota Anggerik assemblypersons Rodziah Ismail and Najwan Halim, whom they said were "familiar" to them.

According to the residents, the duo have been quick to act on their complaints and promptly found solutions to issues raised by them.

How do the other candidates fare?

BN's Harvard-educated candidate Isham Jalil is hoping that the votes will swing to his coalition this time around.

However, if the poor reception for BN's ceramah is anything to go by, Isham's popularity with the Shah Alam folk is far from worthy of winning a parliamentary seat.

During a recent ceramah at Section 7, people hardly gathered at the BN tent, which was otherwise filled with BN supporters. 

Despite the enticement of free 'nasi lemak' and drinks, residents from the surrounding low-cost flats walked past the tent to get their own dinner and declined to be named when approached by this reporter - merely saying they were "not interested" to listen to the ceramah.

For the record, more than 10,000 middle and low-income earners populate 58 blocks of low-cost flats in Section 7, near i-City.

The third contender for the seat - Afif, won the Seberang Jaya state seat under the Harapan banner but is now making his bid to be an MP under the PN banner. The former PKR deputy youth chief is counting to be the preferred choice for the voters, by virtue of Shah Alam being his "hometown".

Muhammad Rafique, meanwhile, may be a fresh face in politics, but he's hoping that his familiarity with the constituents, having practised law there for the last 10 years, would help him to win votes.

A close race

Despite the 'fresh faces' being fielded in the constituency, members of the older generation seem to prefer sticking to the known entity.

An elderly couple who, having lived in Section 6 for 30 years, said their vote would not change.

"We will choose the same party. There is no change in our selection.

"We will vote for the party and not the candidate," said the couple, who refused to be named.

Aida Zulyahaniez, 35, who runs a restaurant in Section 15 of Shah Alam, prefers to vote along her mother's "analysis".

“We feel that Harapan has brought changes and improvements,” she said, adding that her mother was voting in a different state.

Ganesh Ramalingam, 30, from the flood-prone Padang Jawa, said he would vote for Harapan in order to change the federal government.

He said Selangor has been under the Harapan governance for 15 years and wanted to give the coalition a chance to govern at the federal level, as well as to bring about changes in the flood mitigation works.

Ganesh also hopes to see the coalition's chairperson, Anwar Ibrahim, become the prime minister.

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