By Stephanie Sta Maria - Free Malaysia TodayKERLING: “Give me one term and if I don't perform you can get rid of me.” That was PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim's daring promise to the people of Ladang Sungai Jernih here this evening.
About 100 people, most of them Indians from the area, congregated in the village's makeshift cinema for a glimpse of the man they had only heard about thus far.
A relaxed-looking Zaid went straight to the point when he said that an Indian MP could not take care of the Indian community because MIC remains under Umno's thumb.
“BN held this seat for so long and your lives didn't change,” he told them. “Give the seat back to BN and the vicious cycle continues.”
“I was once poor too,” he said. “In my childhood village there were many poor Indians and Malays. So I understand the life you lead and I can look after you.”
Zaid also gently rebuffed an earlier call by the local organiser of the event for people to return any goodies or money given to them by BN.
“Take the money,” he said. “It's not BN's money, it's the rakyat's money. It belongs to you.”
He wound up his 10-minute speech by telling the people not to be afraid to cast the right vote next Sunday because fear will not give them a better future.
Zaid appeared to have bounced back from a somewhat dismal start to his campaign. Where he was previously whisked off immediately after his speeches, he now lingered to exchange words with the people and be interviewed by the media.'BN has been useless'
A quick survey conducted by FMT after the event indicated that PKR had the unwavering support of the Indians in Kerling. One resident, Murugan, 40, was vocal in both his backing of PKR and distaste for BN.
“BN has been useless,” he said. “Things only changed when Pakatan won the seat. Even though (the late) Zainal (Abidin Ahmad) wasn't in the public eye, he still made sure he delivered on his promises.”
Murugan rattled off a list of Pakatan contributions, including the building of temples, bus fare for schoolchildren and RM2,500 to any family who lost a loved one.
Muthusamy, 49, and his wife Letchumy, 45, echoed Murugan's sentiments. They said the Indian who was supposed to help them had not, so they had decided to place their faith elsewhere.
“(G) Palanivel used to come around here,” Letchumy said. “But only to listen to our problems. Whenever we pressed him to do take action, he would say that he was too busy.”
“I heard a lot about how Zaid has helped poor people,” Muthusamy added. “So I am confident that he will do the same for us.”
Zaid will face BN's P Kamalanathan and two independent in the by-election. Voting is on April 25.
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