Pakatan shaky at the home of oldest civilisation in Malaysia
The general election is expected to be the closest fight to form the new Malaysian government. And several seats across the nation are likely to be heated battles with the slimmest of majorities. The Malaysian Insider takes a look at some of these hot seats in what will be an intense election for control of Malaysia.
Opalyn Mok, TMI
Largely rural with just the one small town next to Sungai Petani, the constituency of Merbok is mostly known for being home to the historical Lembah Bujang where the remains of a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom dating back to fifth century AD is located.
Even the name “Merbok” is derived from the Sanskrit word to mean “place” and not a reference to the Merbok bird as commonly assumed.
But the constituency of Merbok with its lush greenery, small villages, plantations, padi fields and fishing villages saw a sea change back in 2008 when the people voted in a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MP.
Long considered a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold, the last two elections prior to the last one saw BN win with a strong majority of more than 15,000 votes.
But Election 2008 saw the constituency, including its two state seats, Bukit Selambau and Tanjung Dawai, fall into the hands of PR.
PKR’s Datuk Rashid Din had wrested the seat in 2008 from Datuk Tajul Urus Md Zain with a 3,098-vote majority. Datuk Zainuddin Maidin (BN) was the previous MP after he won the seat in 2004 with a 15,162-vote majority.
Yet Merbok with about 65,000 registered voters and a voter breakdown of about 66 per cent Malays, 17 per cent ethnic Indians,16 per cent Chinese and one per cent other races is not going to be a sure thing for PR this time round.
Merbok consists of a mix of rural and suburban areas including wide expanses of padi fields for which Kedah is noted for.In the past five years, constituents have kept a close watch on their “new” PR leaders and have come away unimpressed.
“They promised us so many things in 2008, from providing housing and giving aid to us but after they won, we don’t even see their shadow, much less giving us any aid,” said a fisherman in Tanjung Dawai.
The constituency, due to its start as a fishing settlement, has more than 2,000 fishermen and many are unhappy with the lack of service by their representatives and in particular the Merbok MP.
“Where is Rashid? He never comes around and the last I saw him was in 2008,” claimed another fisherman who only wanted to be known as Ali.
“We have given PR a chance in 2008 but they didn’t perform and instead, it is the BN leaders who have been going around helping us and even providing housing for us,” said Ali.
BN has been working hard to win back the people in Merbok as Tajul, who is now the Merbok BN parliamentary co-ordinator, has been going down to the ground since 2009.
“He is very hard working and instead of lamenting over losing the seat in 2008 to Rashid, he had taken up his co-ordinator role seriously by serving the people here,” said a Kedah MCA Youth leader.
He said Tajul had focused on visiting the people in the constituency regularly and going from house to house.
“Initially the reception was not that good but now, people are more receptive towards him and BN,” he said.
