In Kedah, a two-horse race with no winners
The street poll of 70 Kedahans aged 21 to 70 showed that half of them (50 per cent) want a change in the state government. The sentiment was most pronounced among Malays of whom 60 per cent want change followed by Indians (50 per cent).
Muhammad Najib and his fellow restaurateurs here are seething. The Alor Star City Council (MBAS) wants them to pay extra if they want to put tables and chairs on the five-foot ways in front of their shops.
A restaurant with around 15 tables would have to fork out RM600 a month to MBAS. In addition, they will have to pay a one-time RM1,000 application fee and RM10,000 for insurance.
“It’s either you pay up or they come and take your tables and chairs away,” said Muhammad Najib, who requested his name be changed for fear of reprisal.
Ordinarily, he said, the way to deal with such a predicament is for restaurants to band together and take their case up with their state assemblyman, who would then plead with the local council.
Or escalate their struggle by getting an influential “penaung” (patron) such as the mentri besar or the head of a large political party to help them.
But in the post-2008 political landscape, the balance of power in a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state such as Kedah has diluted the ability of a citizen like Muhammad Najib to use his democratic right to petition the authorities for redress.
“If I go to a Barisan Nasional (BN) Adun (state assemblyman) or get a penaung like the state BN chief to help you, the city council won’t listen to him because he’s considered the current opposition.
“If you go to the MB and he helps you, the federal BN will mark you as pro-Pakatan. So if BN comes into power next election, you sure kena (you will be fixed). So in the end, you are trapped.”
His dilemma of the common man feeling victimised by the endless battle for power by BN and PR is repeated again and again by other Kedahans. The only difference is the players and the arenas. The stakes and the game remain the same — gain influence by any ways necessary even if it means opposing good policy.
It boils down to jobs and garbage
During a recent visit by The Malaysian Insider to Kedah, a straw poll of residents signalled that they are tired of the game and that a significant number want to change the next state government in the next election.
The street poll of 70 Kedahans aged 21 to 70 showed that half of them (50 per cent) want a change in the state government. The sentiment was most pronounced among Malays of whom 60 per cent want change followed by Indians (50 per cent).
Only 36 per cent of Chinese respondents wanted change while 28 per cent wanted to keep PR in power. The remaining 36 per cent of Chinese respondents either did not know or did not want to comment.
The respondents were a mix of urban and rural residents from Jitra, Alor Star, Sungai Petani and Merbok.
Most respondents cited employment issues (28 per cent of respondents) namely the lack of jobs, low salaries and the difficulty of finding workers as the biggest problem affecting Kedah.
Respondents said the second biggest problem was poor garbage collection (17 per cent) while lack of economic growth and business opportunities came in third (15 per cent).
The poll seemed to buck the views that the young are more likely to support PR or that the old vote for BN. Close to equal numbers of young and old respondents wanted to either change or maintain the state government.
However, women respondents were likelier than men to want the state government changed.
It’s always my race that gets it
Just as pertinent as these figures are the myriad views individual respondents volunteered about life in Kedah under PR. Many of those wanting change were frustrated with policies which they felt discriminated against them.
Muhammad Najib’s above case is not unique. Other respondents complained of new local council rulings which seemed to have sprung up during PR’s rule and which they deem “insensible”.
Shopkeepers in the Jitra town centre complained of a rule forbidding them from displaying goods on their five foot-ways, while residents of Sungai Petani groaned about steep parking fees.
Many of the complaints were tinged with perceptions of ethnic bias.
Conversations with Chinese business people invariably bring up the PR government’s 50 per cent Bumiputera quota housing policy (link to Chinese sentiment story) Malay shopkeepers felt that local council only targeted Malay businesses.
“I have been warned about cleanliness. But I look at the Chinese restaurants behind mine and they haven’t been touched. It’s like they won’t mess with Chinese businesses because they are afraid of losing votes,” railed one eatery owner in Alor Star who requested anonymity.
This is another version of the perception war that PAS and its PR allies are fighting all over the country, from Selangor to Penang and Perak, that it is bending backwards for non-Muslims at the expense of Muslims.
Kedah PAS Youth chief Ahmad Yahya points out that the 50 per cent Bumiputera quota for housing estates (which Chinese business groups have opposed) is meant to help Malays buy more houses.
Yet this point was missed by all of the Malay respondents who accused PAS of a non-Muslim bias.
