Manek Urai: Polling ends with PAS predicting big win

(Suara Keadilan) Who says Malaysian voters are fed up? If numbers released by the Election Commission are right, then the Manek Urai by-election will win hands down as the contest that garnered the most balloting interest this year.

While confident of its chances and pleased at the support shown, Pakatan Rakyat is not ready to let its guard down yet.

“It is a very good indication. The high attendance is positive for us and I think it is obvious to Umno too. At most of the polling stations in their areas, their support staff already left early and the premises were empty by 3pm,” PKR strategic affairs director Tian Chua told Suara Keadilan.

Although polling ended only at 5pm, Kelantan PAS election director Abdul Fatah Harun was ready to predict a Pakatan victory at 4pm. He forecast a majority of at least 1,700 to 2,000 votes, more than the 1,352 it won in 2008.

PAS supporters are already dancing on the streets even though official results are only expected by 8pm.

According to the Election Commission, the turnout was 87.3 percent by 5pm. And although the EC had set an 85 percent target, the outstanding attendance may have left it a bit surprised as it has both Pakatan and Umno.

Making a strong statement

Perhaps the two protagonists underestimated their own contest. To Umno, the goal may have been to wrest the seat by any means – fair or foul and anyhow just to snap its president and Prime Minister Najib Razak’s losing streak. To PAS, it may have been to win without substantially losing its previous 1,352-votes majority.

But to the voters of Manek Urai, which is 99 percent Malay, Tuesday’s by-election was a chance for the community to speak its mind on several recent issues involving their ethnic group.

For them, it was a timely and golden opportunity to clear the air on what the Umno-BN and its press has been presuming to be their wishes and stuffing it down their throats.

There were several burning issues including oil royalty to the tune of RM1.7 billion still owed to the state by the federal government and a multi-million ringgit bridge liking Manek Urai Lama to Manek Urai Baru.

But the hottest potato of them all was undeniably the so-called “unity talks” Najib suddenly reignited last month, in a move that nearly split PAS down the line.

Ostensibly to unite the community, PAS members however believe Najib meant to weaken their party and to break it apart from its Pakatan partners PKR and DAP.

“If the Malays wanted one party, there wouldn’t be two big parties Umno and PAS,” said a PAS voter at Manek Urai.

“That after so many decades, the two still exist means the Malays are secure and matured enough to want to pursue different lifestyles, different thinking. It doesn’t mean they don’t value Malay unity but they are not stupid. They can tell who is sincere, who is not. It is clear to us Najib is willing to divide the community just for the sake of his political games. This is bad intentions.”

A hectic and emotional campaign

Indeed the past eight days were marked by hard work and emotional campaigning by both the Pakatan and Umno-BN. The former held some 39 ceramahs or political lectures, while the latter held 32.

Finally, the day of reckoning arrived. Amid a huge police presence, voters began moving into the nine polling stations scattered across the small constituency when balloting began at 8am.

The morning began with little fanfare but picked up as both candidates, who are not eligible to vote, visited some of the nine schools used as polling stations for the event. Neither contestant from PAS or Umno could cast their ballot, although both are local because they are still registered as voters in the neighbouring Guchil state seat.

At around 8.30am, Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat accompanied the Pakatan-PAS candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah to SK Peria polling centre, while Umno-BN’s Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat visited SK Manek Urai.

By 9am supporters of both groups had thronged the vicinity of the schools, with frequent shouts of Allahuakbar or God is Great ringing through the air, while traffic jams along the major roads have already begun to pile up.

As the day progressed and the crowd built up, sporadic clashes began to flare up although police action restored control.

EC chairman Aziz Yusof was reported as saying he was unhappy with situation at the SK Peria polling centre and would “come out with a quick decision soon” – cryptic remarks that have alarmed Pakatan officials.

“We are still monitoring the situation very carefully because what the EC says is one thing. What we see on the ground is Umno being very provocative. It may be a tactic to scare and keep as many voters away as possible,” said Tian.

Of oil, fishmongers, new bridge and Lee Kuan Yew

Manek Urai is just about two hours drive from the Kelantan capital of Kota Baru. It has inadvertently become the centre of a huge power struggle between the Pakatan and Umno-BN after its PAS assemblyman Ismail Yaacob died in May.

The state seat is a Malay heartland where 99 percent of the 12,293 voters are Malay and has at one time or other either tilled the land or fished the seas.

Ignored for decades by the federal government, residents have watched with bemusement the long line of bigwigs from Kuala Lumpur suddenly descending on their peaceful town and trying to convince them that it is now time for ‘change’.

Early on in the campaign, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stepped on toes by belittling Mohd Fauzi, a self-made trader with a thriving fish-wholesaling business. The DPM described Mohd Fauzi as a mere fishmonger, with the implication that his Umno candidate Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat was superior because he was a UTM graduate and a former manager at government agency Kesedar,

Eager to make up for his faux pas, Muhyiddin recently promised to build a bridge linking Manek Urai Lama with Manek Urai Baru.

But his claim was immediately rubbished by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

“Do not talk about the bridge, give back the RM1 billion and let Tok Guru manage it, they talk about RM6, RM7 million because they think people are stupid,” Anwar said to thunderous applause from the crowd of thousands.

Anwar was referring the oil royalty claim submitted by Nik Aziz, the PAS spiritual adviser who is popularly known as Tok Guru. Nik Aziz recently invited Najib to an open debate on the matter but the Umno president has refused, citing a variety of reasons that have been criticized as vague.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who came to campaign, too set up backs by insisting that “unity talks” between his party and PAS would be held despite repeated denials by PAS leaders.

The majority of PAS members are against any form of dialogue that will lead to a merger between the two Malay groups. They distrust Umno and believe that the “unity talks” are meant to weaken PAS and break apart the Pakatan coalition it has formed with partners PKR and DAP.

However, it is in an eleventh hour tactic that Umno is pinning its hopes in persuading voters to return to its fold. Last night, it began putting up posters showing Nik Aziz shaking hands with Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Kuan Yew, who came to Kelantan on an official visit last month, is not a popular figure amongst the Malay community.

The aim of the posters is again to further divide the Malays – seeking to make them wonder why the MB would choose to meet the Singapore leader but reject unity talks with Umno. It of course omits to mention that Nik Aziz has repeatedly offered to host public debates with Najib.

Umno has also been using federal machinery including government and army officers to campaign on its behalf.

In the 2008 general election, the late Ismail beat his Umno rival Zulkepli Omar by a 1,352-vote majority, obtaining 5,746 votes against the latter’s 4,394.