Most days, not much happens in Rasa but there is now excitement in the air.
RASA, Jan 1 — There is high excitement in the air in this small Chinese-majority town between Batang Kali and Kuala Kubu Baru in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency.
It is 10am and the haphazardly laid-out coffeeshops and warungs in the settlement are packed with locals tucking into their breakfast, reading the newspapers and catching up on the latest news.
A possible by-election in the constituency is the main topic of discussion among not just the locals but also among the top leadership in both the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Nasional (BN) camps.
The excitement today is extra red hot and the reason for it is a “high-powered” ceramah here tomorrow night led by PR supremo Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
In addition, almost the entire Selangor exco line-up, their aides and supporters are descending on the one-street settlement off the old Rawang-Tanjung Malim road.
The villagers, many of them oil palm and rubber smallholders, vegetable growers and fish breeders and supplementary tradespeople, are pink with excitement, expecting a major announcement especially from Anwar or Khalid.
“There is great expectation in the air,” said Francis Xavier Subramaniam, the PKR’s Ketua Penyelaras for Rasa. “People are expecting Datuk Seri (Anwar) to make a major announcement but it is not a sure thing.”
Speaking in Tamil, Francis told The Malaysian Insider that many locals are expecting Anwar to announce the resignation of Hulu Selangor MP Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad to pave the way for a by-election.
“This is the talk… we know about it but nothing is confirmed… nothing is clear,” he said, adding he had heard that “Zainal is sick”.
“Everybody knows that Dr Zainal is very sick, but will he resign… that we don’t know,” he said.
The talk in Rasa is that Dr Zainal, who suffers from various ailments, has submitted his resignation letter to Anwar, but it is not clear whether the opposition leader would pass on the letter to the Speaker.
“We heard that he will resign but we are not sure of it,” said local DAP member Tan Chou Tam (pic, right), 55, who is also secretary of the Rasa JKKK.
“Local people here are talking of the 9th by-election here but it is not a fact yet... everybody is talking about it but nobody knows for sure,” he said.
The excitement of a by-election is even greater after locals learned that after Anwar’s party leaves town, no less than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is visiting Rasa and other surrounding settlements in the constituency.
The arrival of the Prime Minister in the constituency on Jan 9 and the “awakening” of the BN machinery here have added to the speculation.
“The Barisan machinery here is starting to move,” said local resident S. Shanmugam, a lorry driver and MIC member. “We are gearing up in case Zainal resigns.”
The MIC machinery in the constituency is a beehive of activity with MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel in the constituency nearly every day, settling one local issue after another, his aides said.
“While Zainal lays bedridden our man is serving the constituency… Although he lost narrowly we see him as our representative because he is here everyday,” said shopkeeper M. Ramanathan.
Banners have gone up in the constituency proclaiming Palanivel, who was MP since 1990 but was defeated in 2008 by 198 votes, as “penyelaras kawasan” and inviting people to bring up their problems with him.
Dr Zainal was an Umno bigwig and briefly Deputy Mentri Besar of Selangor but fell out with the party and joined PKR.
A tale told in Hulu Selangor says he believed he had been defeated last year and had returned home and only learned the next day he had won by a narrow majority.
“It will be a hot fight if there is a by-election,” Shanmugam said. “The winning majority was so slim… the next fight will also be really close.”
Speculation is rife in MIC/BN circles that Umno wants back the seat but Palanivel’s supporters are confident their man will get to be the candidate if the seat is vacated.
In the PKR, a campaign is already under way to persuade Anwar to nominate an Indian to face Palanivel just as an Indian S. Manikumar was fielded in the Bukit Selambau by-election last March.
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