Bittersweet for winners and losers

The outcome of the Sungai Limau by-election bore a sweet and sour aftertaste for both the winning and losing sides.

Malay support aside, Barisan politicians claimed that the Chinese sentiment has softened since the general election. Chinese voters comprised less than 7% of the total voters, and they are located in mainly four PDMs, three of which were won by Barisan.

Joceline Tan, The Star

MOHD Azam Abd Samat, who successfully defended PAS’ claim to the Sungai Limau seat, is one of those natural smilers.

He basically smiled his way through the entire campaign because his minders did not allow him to speak to the media.

They did not want a repeat of the boo-boo as seen in Terengganu’s Kuala Besut by-election when their candidate said the wrong thing even to their party organ, Harakahdaily.

Azam stuck to the script and let the others do the I-say-you and you-say-me stuff that happens in a political campaign.

Sungai Limau has been what Kedah luminary Datuk A. Kadir Jasin termed an “emotional campaign”.

The last time Kedah witnessed a campaign that was as emotional was after the death of PAS’ beloved president Datuk Fadzil Mohd Noor in 2002.

Likewise, the death of former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak so soon after the fall of Kedah had an air of tragedy about it and PAS felt compelled to go all out to defend the seat.

Sinar Harian put it well when they headlined the win as Hadiah untuk Azizan (a gift for Azizan).

But not far beneath the smiles and the celebration over the win is the niggling fact that the reduced majority is yet more proof of PAS’ eroded standing in the Malay heartland.

The majority of win shrank from 2,774 to 1,084.

Apart from that, Umno won in 10 out of the 19 voting districts (PDM or peti daerah mengundi) in the constituency.

In the May general election, Umno had won in only six PDMs.

PAS, on the other hand, won in only nine PDMs, down from 13 in the May election.

Their overall victory was largely garnered at one of the bigger PDMs called Bukit Besar where their hardcore supporters are located.

The signs of erosion are visible and it was clear that more middle ground in Sungai Limau has shifted without Azizan there to hold it back.

The Sungai Limau results were also in stark contrast to Kuala Besut where Umno had held on to its stronghold with a bigger majority.

“It is a win for PAS and also a setback.

“You have to remember that this is their stronghold because they have held the seat since 1995. The voters did not go solidly with PAS,” said Kadir.

Malay support aside, Barisan politicians claimed that the Chinese sentiment has softened since the general election.

Chinese voters comprised less than 7% of the total voters, and they are located in mainly four PDMs, three of which were won by Barisan.

“The Chinese liked Ustaz Azizan. They saw him as a gentleman politician but I believe they also want to see more development in the area,” said former Alor Star MP Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung.

But the young vote was also marginally tilted towards PAS in most of the PDMs.

The battle for Kedah in the years ahead will be a battle for the young hearts and minds.

The Umno side has tried to spin the reduced majority as “a win” for Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir. But in an election, a loss is a loss.

However, as Kadir noted, Mukhriz has given Umno a new political momentum.

His youth, intellect and the fact that he has relatively little baggage has breathed life for Barisan in the state.

Mukhriz was disappointed and the result probably left both a sweet and sour taste in his mouth.

As photographers snapped away at his post-election press conference on Monday night, he quipped: “Should I smile or should I look sad?”

The by-election has been the first real political baptism for the Kedah Mentri Besar.

He knew critics were watching his every move, ready to pounce on any mistake on his part.

He has done quite well considering that he has only been on the job for six months.

Many had thought that the Sungai Limau campaign would be as sleepy as the one in Kuala Besut.

But it turned out to be chockful of drama and incidents from phone hackings to bizarre mannequins with amputated legs hanging from trees to photos doctored to show that Azam is close to Azizan.

No less than Azizan’s widow, Puan Sri Faekah Sheikh Hamzah, as well as his political rival Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi, claimed that their phones were hacked to send misleading SMSes – marking the first time that Kedah is seeing hi-tech campaigning.

The PAS win made its way into Facebook in a ticklish way.

Immediately after the results, Facebook was full of jokes about security guards with fake ICs voting for PAS in Sungai Limau.

It was a dig at Pakatan’s infamous claims of 40,000 Bangladeshis being flown in to vote in the last general election.

Azam was not the only winner in Sungai Limau.

The other big winner is PAS’ by-election chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar.

The by-election outcome will be a huge boost to Mahfuz’s prospects of defending his vice-president post in the PAS election later this month.