The mind war for Perak

By Sheridan Mahavera - The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, Feb 6 — Standing precariously on the rotting wooden floor of a kampung house, Datuk Seri Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar stares out at what hours ago used to be the bedroom wall.

Now, the Kubu Gajah state assemblyman is staring down into the garden at the remains of that wall, which collapsed that morning. He belts out orders to a building contractor over what he wants to see done for the house owner before nightfall.

He gets assurances that something will be done so that the whole structure doesn’t collapse but what he tells owner Khalid Osman is not very heartening.

“I’m sorry but you’ll just have to find another place to stay. I can help stabilise it so it doesn’t fall apart anymore but the house has been thoroughly eaten by termites,” says Raja Ahmad Zainuddin.

The prognosis merely confirmed Khalid’s fears but for the 50-year-old, what really mattered was that his wakil rakyat took the time to come down and see what his problem is.

Raja Ahmad Zainuddin (left) at the house which is falling apart. — Pictures by Choo Choy May

And in the next elections, Barisan Nasional is betting on this to be its main selling point, that BN politicians are better at resolving the everyday problems of Ali, Ah Chong and Aru than Pakatan Rakyat.

Of course bringing development and economic progress are still hallmarks of a BN administration and the Perak government under Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir has excelled in this.

But many BN politicians, grassroots activists and supporters say that crowing about getting RM11 billion in investments is not enough to win over rural folk.

“ADUN (state assemblymen) BN tak turun padang (did not go down to the ground),” says one long-time Umno activist in Larut on why the BN lost in the March 2008 general election.

“They became aloof and took their support for granted. Many of them don’t even live in their own constituencies and only return once in a while,” says the Umno man, who declined to be identified in criticising his party bosses.

Behrang state assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi echoed this, claiming that Pakatan had won on “protest votes” from people disillusioned by BN’s arrogance.

“That’s why Najib (BN chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak) said that in the next election, he wants candidates who are people-friendly and who actually stay in their constituencies,” says Jamaluddin, an ex-Pakatan assemblyman who jumped ship and is now a BN-friendly independent.

Raja Ahmad Zainuddin says that the main BN approach is not to have one-off, large-scale programmes but consistent little meetings with ordinary folk to listen to grouses and help where they can.”

He thinks the “protest votes” led to an unprecedented loss in support for seasoned Umno politicians like him in seats where they had previously scored huge majorities. Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, for instance, won the Kubu Gajah seat by only 66 votes, down from the over 7,000 votes he garnered when he won the Larut parliamentary seat in 2004.

Raja Ahmad Zainuddin says people wanted to teach Barisan a lesson in the last election.

“People just wanted to teach us a lesson. They didn’t really expect that it would lead the BN to lose Perak. They are not Pakatan supporters per se and I think next time around, they will come back to us.”

And he claims to have really taken the lesson to heart. The former Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board chairman now visits his constituency’s service centre everyday.

He makes it a point to know his constituents’ latest problems and pays regular visits to the poor, the infirm and to the old.

“Even if it’s only for five minutes I turun (come down) every day. I help out everyone, be it a BN supporter or Pakatan. And I help all races,” he says.

For the folks in kampungs that are cut-off from mainstream society, such regular meet-greet-and-listen contacts go a long way to making them feel valued.

And that was proven in 2008 because that was essentially Pakatan’s approach.

“Many of my neighbours voted for Pakatan last time because orang BN didn’t come down to see them. But now, we are seeing more Umno people here in the village, so maybe next time, things will be different,” says a village official in Selama.

“Teaching Malays how to think”

There was no laughing in the ceramah crowd in Taman Meru, Jelapang when PAS’ Dr Khairuddin Abdul Malik took the stand.

It wasn’t a side-splitting speech filled with folksy humour common in a PAS ceramah. Instead the Perak PAS deputy commissioner gave a slide presentation so caustic that he had to apologise several times if his points were harsh.

Women and children were part of the ceramah crowd where Khairuddin spoke.

The theme of his talk centred on the view that the Perak Pakatan government under Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin was pro-Chinese at the expense of the Malays.

This perception is being spread by Umno in Perak’s Malay heartlands of Larut, Bagan Datok, Parit, Pengkalan Hulu and Kuala Kangsar. PAS grassroots activists are worried that it is steadily converting Malays who voted Pakatan in 2008 back to Umno and the BN.

“I want my government to give opportunities for Malays to do business,” says a stall owner in Bukit Gantang, when asked what he wanted from the state administration.

If left unchallenged, this perception could blunt attempts by Pakatan to boast of its achievements during its 10-month term to Malays. These initiatives could be re-spun to seem like they only benefited one community.

To counter this perception, Khairuddin explained how Pakatan’s programmes benefited proportionately more Malays compared to other groups because the aim was to help the poor regardless of race.

“In the Malay community, eight per cent of all Malays are poor while Indians are two per cent and the Chinese are 0.8 per cent. So when we do programmes for the poor, of course Malays would benefit the most.

“Umno says we only give land titles to Chinese villagers. In reality we have given more titles to Malay villages but Umno does not talk about this.”

He doesn’t just blast Umno and BN. The main aim is to erase the deeply-grafted assumption in the Malay mind that only Umno can truly represent and look after the community.

It is also to refute the allegation that PAS’s partner DAP was the “Communist, anti-Malay Chinese” while MCA represented the “good Chinese.”

“Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng gave twice the amount of funds that Umno gave for the development of Islam in Penang. He even formed a Syura Council to discuss Islamic issues. Ask yourselves, is this what a communist government would do?,” Khairuddin asked the crowd.

A former senior civil servant says the perception is entrenched in the Malay psyche largely because of 50 years of communal politics.

“Malays generally don’t think far enough when they look at policy. For example, when the government cuts subsidies for boarding schools. They don’t see that it affects mostly Malay students because they are the largest group in these schools.

“And when non-Malays get a few land titles, they over-react.”

The Pakatan strategy is not just about a regular ceramah circuit to keep the memory of them and their downfall alive among the rakyat.

Khairuddin explained Pakatan’s programmes at the ceramah.

A DAP official explained that the parties are increasing their new voter-registration drives in all constituencies by having mini-contests that reward agents who register the most.

The three parties are also intensifying recruitment drives where they want to increase members in every area by 30 per cent, says Khairuddin.

It is going to be a battle of values in the war for political control of Perak, opined a long-time Ipoh-based Parti Keadilan Rakyat activist.

Since Pakatan and BN have chalked up their own noteworthy accomplishments whether it is helping the poor, resolving land issues or bringing in development, choosing between BN and Pakatan is no longer a choice between who has the better track record and whose ideals are better.

For the first time in their lives, Perak folk will be able to truly compare between two different ways of governance and the values that underline their policies.

Whether it is Pakatan or the BN, the ceramah and the small group meeting are tools that Perak folk will see more often as both coalitions try to sell them their values.