Even if it is not making headlines any more, Kajang still matters to some BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA Huge posters of a smiling Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail dominate strategic traffic intersections in Kajang. Below the PKR candidate’s profile is written: “Dari Kajang ke Putrajaya”. This is the script that PKR is sticking to as it tries to spark flagging interest in a by-election that now does not seem as important as it was first made out to be. That message is that the by-election is part of its larger campaign to gain federal power or the so-called “Kajang move”. The scorching weather, haze, national attention on the missing MH370 and the Appeals Court ruling on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has sapped the energy from the by-election itself. Dr Wan Azizah will go head to head with Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun in Kajang. After all, there was attention on Kajang because it was Anwar’s vehicle into the state administration, and most probably into the menteri besar’s post. It was something that PKR talked up as the “Kajang move” and which according to a Universiti Malaya survey and The Malaysian Insider’s own interviews with voters, sparked a lot of interest. But despite the lukewarm appetite for the by-election, it is still seriously being pursued by both PKR and Barisan Nasional which hope to turn it into referendums on each other. And at the centre of it is none other than Anwar himself, who despite being elsewhere other than in Kajang, still dominates the conversation just like how his wife dominates roadside posters. In Dr Wan Azizah’s separate interviews with the media and in PKR press conferences, the topic of Anwar continues to crop up. This is also the case when talking to BN leaders and activists. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is spearheading BN’s whole by-election machinery, admitted that the Appeals Court ruling disqualifying Anwar was being made into an issue to get votes. “These people have no other ideas. It is all about their accusations that we manipulated the courts. Our judiciary is independent,” Muhyiddin said recently after visiting the Taman Mesra BN operations centre in Kajang. A BN activist met the same centre later said: “You should ask PKR. Don’t they have any other candidates? Why are they putting up recycled personalities? “If the Federal Court frees Anwar and his wife is ADUN (member of the state legislature), is she going to resign so that he can contest again?” Anwar can seek to overturn the Appeal Court ruling by filling a case at the Federal Court. If the Federal Court declares that he is ultimately not guilty, he would be eligible to contest again. Muhyiddi also ran down the whole justification for PKR’s “Kajang move”. “Now that Anwar can’t contest, the ‘Kajang move’ is pointless. Why did they even do this in the first place? This is something we want the rakyat to think about.” PKR, on the other hand, hopes to reignite the 1998-99 reformasi spirit when Anwar was found guilty in his first sodomy case. “When people see my face, they think of Anwar,” said Dr Wan Azizah in an interview yesterday. “I want people to remember the injustice that we are fighting against,” she said, adding that the ruling could attract more Malay Muslim support to PKR. Yet at the same time, both sides realise that it cannot just bank on how voters feel about the Appeal Court decision. Dr Wan Azizah and PKR have drawn up an election manifesto that concentrates on four areas of concern for residents: crime, job opportunities, traffic congestion and municipal services. These areas had also been identified as the top-most issues among voters by a Universti Malaya Centre for Elections and Democracy Studies (UMCEDEL) survey published on February 20. The hope, said PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli, was that the manifesto and the eventual delivery of its pledges would be seen as a model of PKR’s brand of good governance. On the BN side, Chew has been busy making her rounds in the constituency ever since she was announced as candidate on February 21. In her meetings with various groups, Chew has reportedly promised to take their grouses up to the state government when she was elected as their state representative. She also uses her experience as a former deputy minister and two-term MP to sell herself as a committed public servant. So while both BN and Pakatan’s political operators work overtime to inject their own national narratives of either injustice or abuse of the democratic process, the by-election itself may just pivot on who has the best plan to ease traffic congestion or rubbish collection. At the end of the day, national tragedies may pass. But for Kajang residents this by-election could affect how safe their neighbourhoods are, the quality of their roads and whether the rubbish is picked up daily. – March 13, 2014.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 04:11:07 +0000
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