Race, the Appeals Court finding Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim guilty of sodomy, and the price of water spinach (or kangkung) – these are what could affect the results of the Kajang by election on March 23. According to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Nasional (BN) activists, these three issues appear to be on top of the minds of Kajang’s Malay Muslim voters, who make up 48% of the constituency’s 38,965 voters. And as the Kajang by-election reaches its last lap, both coalitions are pulling out all the stops to capture the hearts and minds of this community. Polling is on Sunday. Malay Muslim support in Kajang is seen as a signifier of how other urban Malay Muslims feel towards each coalition close to one year after the BN federal government’s mandate. Pakatan, on the other hand, framed the by-election as a referendum on the Appeals Court decision to uphold Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy conviction. It claimed the court was manipulated by the BN to produce its verdict. Both coalitions also need majority Malay Muslim support if they want to achieve their aims in the by-election. For the BN, it needs to win a majority of the votes in the community for it to stand a chance of actually winning the by-election. A majority for Pakatan meanwhile could see the coalition increasing its winning majority in Kajang from the 6,824 votes it garnered in the 13th general election last May. BN’s Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and PR’s Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail are battling to be the next Kajang assemblyperson. The Kajang constituency is broken up into 18 polling districts. Four of them, Sungai Sekamat, Batu 10, Sungai Kantan and Taman Delima, contain the highest concentration of Malay Muslim voters in Kajang. For instance, 90% of the over 4,000 voters in Sungai Sekamat are Malay Muslims. Last year, the BN managed to get the majority of votes in these four districts. That may change now as Dr Wan Azizah’s stature and the Appeals Court decision have tugged at the heartstrings of many Malay Muslim voters. “We don’t even have to campaign much to introduce the candidate,” said Khalid Ridzuan, who oversees PR’s campaign in Sungai Kantan. “We have never won. But this time around, we it might be different,” said Khalid, of the more than 2,400 votes in the Sungai Kantan polling district. He also said that Wan Azizah’s ethnicity had also attracted more Malay Muslim voters who claimed they were not comfortable choosing a non-Malay over a Malay candidate. In Sungai Sekamat and nearby polling districts of Taman Mesra and Taman Delima, both coalitions have ramped up their programmes. In the middle-class neighbourhood of Taman Cuepacs, which is under Sungai Sekamat, Appeals Court judge Datuk Mohd Nor Abdullah joined a talk, or ceramah, to refute the allegation that Anwar’s Appeals Court verdict was manipulated by the BN. Ten minutes away in Kampung Bukit Dukong, Pakatan was scheduled to give a ceramah titled “Is it true the Malays of Penang have been sidelined?” Its message was meant to dispel widely-spread claims by Umno and Malay supremacist groups that the Malay Muslim community would suffer if Pakatan came to power. In Taman Mesra, another Malay majority polling district, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin responded to claims of runaway inflation – another favourite Pakatan issue. “I have gone down to markets myself you know as well as I do that prices of produce go up and down at the market all the time,” said Muhyiddin, who heads the special cabinet committee on cost of living. Despite aggressive campaigning by Pakatan, the BN believes it can still hold on to most of the 4,000-over votes in Sungai Sekamat, said BN activist Norma Othman. “Campaigning is definitely quite heated but we have also been going out and house to house every day to meet voters,” said the Hulu Langat Wanita Umno member. “In fact we’re even pulling in people who voted for the opposition last time,” she said when met in Kampung Sungai Sekamat. But despite their confidence, activists from both sides still remain guarded on their chances. . . Election Commission denies surge in early voters in Kajang by-election – Bernama Is Anwar slowly winning over Umno supporters in Kajang? Straight fight between Wan Azizah, Mei Fun in Kajang Anwar takes a dig at Najib, says he can better handle international media interest in MH370 Even if it is not making headlines any more, Kajang still matters to some
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 06:12:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015