The mind war for Perak

The mind war for Perak
By Sheridan Mahavera

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

First published Feb 6, 2010 The Malaysian Insider http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/52169-the-mind-war-for-perak-

Pakatan could win Perak again, but…

This particular story seriously pushed the boundaries as to what a "hard" story should be. The assignment was: get 100 people from all over Perak to take a straw poll in three days. Tabulate the results and write about it. What is usually forgotten is the fact that you have to approach 200 people to get 100 of them to AGREE to have their views canvassed. The other hard part is convincing people you are not from the Government, the Special Branch and that they won't get ISA'd if they say something critical. The link http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/52155-pakatan-could-win-perak-again-but contains graphics of the full results. 

By Sheridan Mahavera and Choo Choy May

IPOH, Feb 6 — Though it has been a year since the elected Perak government was brought down by defections, a Malaysian Insider straw poll showed that Perak folk “tak mudah lupa”.

Many still remember the previous Pakatan Rakyat government and the changes it brought to the state. But this is not an endorsement of the Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin’s eventful but short-lived 10-month administration.

The poll showed that just as Pakatan’s contributions were fondly remembered by some, others felt left out by those same programmes.

The poll, which surveyed 101 residents from districts in northern and southern Perak, indicated that although the men on the street may not keep abreast of the latest developments in local politics, they are pretty sure of their political allegiances.

In other words, if there were state polls tomorrow, more than two-thirds of respondents have already made up their minds which coalition they would choose.

In fact, going by the poll’s results, 42 out of 101 people would choose Pakatan while 34 would choose the BN.

In terms of popularity, Nizar is slightly better regarded than his rival Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir who is the present Mentri Besar. Forty-three respondents thought he would make a better chief executive while 32 thought Zambry was better.

On the surface, these numbers are a rough gauge of what Perak folk think of both administrations but beneath that lies something more fundamentally important — that Perak society is deeply fractured.

It is not just differences between the three dominant ethnic groups in terms of who they are more likely to vote. It is about how each community perceives the other and the values of each group.

One year on and still going strong

The 101 respondents were asked six questions to get a sense of what they thought of the current political climate.

The Malaysian Insider surveyed the opinions of 46 Malays, 35 Chinese and 20 Indians in rural areas in Larut, Bukit Gantang and Kuala Sepetang, the semi-rural towns of Teluk Intan and Kampar, and around Ipoh city.

They were aged between the early 20s to the late 70s and comprised, among others, farmers, fishermen, small businessmen, civil servants and professionals.

The most obvious trend that emerged and which has been hinted at before by politicians is the difference in support of Pakatan and BN among the communities.

Support for the BN was highest among the Malays with close to half (21) of those surveyed saying they would vote BN if an election was held tomorrow, versus 15 who would vote Pakatan.

Conversely, 20 of the 35 Chinese polled said they would choose Pakatan and of the remaining 15, only four would choose the BN.

Indian support is narrowly split with nine of those surveyed saying they would vote BN and seven for Pakatan.

This pattern is repeated in how favourably each group views the two coalitions. Nineteen Malays had positive feelings about the BN administration under Zambry compared to nine Indians and only nine Chinese.

Yet, among Malays, 26 of them did not think that their lives have generally improved under BN. The main reason given for this was because Zambry’s administration has only been in office for a year.

About a quarter of the Indians, Chinese and Malays interviewed say they saw no changes under either administrations because their terms were too short.

Pakatan’s contributions, however, were well remembered by all. In fact there were more people who remembered their initiatives (54) than there were those who thought that BN had changed things for the better (37).

Yet there is an unpleasant truth to this. Though 25 Malays say they remembered Pakatan’s contributions, about 10 of them felt that the programmes were unfair to the community.

“What about us Malays?”

“Yes, I remember what Pakatan did. They let the Chinese rule Perak,” remarked one Malay respondent from northern Perak. This sentiment was echoed in other interviews with many other Malay respondents.

The views ranged from grouses about how too many Chinese villages were getting freehold titles to how preferential treatment was given to Chinese businesses in the Kinta Valley.

The sentiment has its roots in the popular and not unfounded perception that the state was run by an unofficial triumvirate that included Nizar and executive council members Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming.

Other respondents based their belief that it was a pro-Chinese administration based on the fact that seven of the 10 state executive committee posts went to non-Malays.

Malays who say they would vote for Pakatan also admitted to subscribing to the notion though they claimed it did not affect their support for the coalition.

A veteran Pakatan activist says these perceptions persist because the coalition itself has failed to dispel them.

The reality is that under Pakatan, Malay villages also received offers for freehold titles while the community benefited much from grants given to Perak university students and aid for funeral expenses.

These benefits, however, were never highlighted by the Bahasa Malaysia media who instead kept playing up the issue of freehold titles for Chinese villages, says the activist who requested anonymity.

“There is a drop in Malay support for Pakatan ever since the March 2008 elections. I would not be surprised that support has eroded further.”

The finding suggests that Pakatan faces a greater challenge than just winning enough seats to form the government in the next state election, as the survey shows it still has support.

Yet this is not enough to endear it to a large section of Perak Malays. The community’s support is crucial if Pakatan truly wants to realise its “new” politics of transparency and meritocracy for all.

First published: FEb 6, 2010 The Malaysian Insider http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/52155-pakatan-could-win-perak-again-but