The battle for Indian voters in Bagan Pinang

By Baradan Kuppusamy - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — In Election 2008 in Bagan Pinang, the majority of Indians there had voted for PAS while the majority of Malays voted for Umno, with the minority Chinese, who are about 10 per cent of the electorate of 13,334 voters, evenly backing both factions.

It was largely because of strong Indian support that PAS managed to reduce Umno’s majority from 4,411 votes in the 2004 general election to 2,333 votes in the 2008 polls.

Will this pattern repeat itself on Oct 11?

In 2008 PAS won in five streams — Ladang Atherton, Pekan Siliau, Ladang Bradwell, Sua Betong and in Kampung Bagan Pinang.

While the first four areas have an Indian majority, Kampung Bagan Pinang is predominantly Malay with a large Indian population of 500 voters compared to 1,731 Malays and 113 Chinese.

With former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Isa Samad returning to contest against PAS state chief Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, there is no reason for traditional Umno supporters and fence sitters to shy away from Umno.

Hardcore PAS supporters will continue to back the party. The question is how the Indians, who are a sizeable 20 per cent of the electorate, will vote.

Herein lies the confusion — there are now simply one too many groups out to woo the Indian voters.

The irony is that while Hindraf founder P. Uthayakumar is urging Indians to boycott the polls, others are actively wooing them either to vote PAS or Umno and these include the DAP, PPP, MIC, PAS and Umno itself.

In addition various factions opposed to these political parties but supportive of Umno/BN are also campaigning for Indian voters, making the campaign a true merry go round.

Among these groups of leaders are the Barisan Nasional Supporters Club led by former MIC Youth leader S.A Vicknesvaran, the Makkal Sakthi Party led by former Hindraf national co-ordinator R. S. Thanenthiran and expelled PPP member Datuk S. Murugiah.

On the stump for PAS are the DAP and PKR Indian leaders like Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, Sungkai state assemblyman A. Sivanesan and PKR’s Padang Serai MP. P. Gobalakrisnan and Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam.

The 2,800 voters are spoilt for choice.

“I have never seen so many people knock on my doors with all kinds of hampers,” said S. Athimugam, in Bradwell estate. “I am not even a registered voter,” he said with a wink.

He said many older Indians see the by-election as a contest between Isa and PAS not Umno. “Umno does not come into the picture because Isa is such a dominant figure in Teluk Kemang,” he said. “His father was likewise a dominant figure before Isa.”

But the younger generation of Indians, who work elsewhere but will return to vote, they see the contest as a struggle between Umno and Pakatan Rakyat supremo Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“They see Anwar as a credible leader for the Indians not Samy Vellu or Kulasegaran or Thanenthiran or Uthayakumar,” said Wilson Sagamani, a retired teacher in Port Dickson.

“They are so badly discriminated in everyway they want to punish Umno…it’s that simple for them,” he said, adding that nobody is expected to heed Uthayakumar’s call to boycott the election.

“It is a carnival for them, they are diehard Pakatan supporters and the last people in the world to boycott the election,” Sagamani said.

While Umno and its many affiliates are all consistently wooing the Indian votes to raise Umno’s winning majority, PAS is also courting them in the hope of combining their support together with Malay fence sitters to tip the balance in their favour.

The only difference between now and in 2008 is the Isa factor which by all counts is a big factor in Teluk Kemang.