In Terengganu, inertia rolls over Umno’s political storm
Audrey Edwards, Malay Mail Online
Rohaida Yasin sits on a high platform, patiently peddling keropok lekor to customers at the Pasar Besar Kedai Payang.
The 42-year-old has been selling the traditional fish snacks since leaving school.
Her mother, Ramlah Hassan, 72, who has been selling various wares including the current keropok for about three decades, sits at the next platform.
“Those days you can be well-off if you had such a business. Now, what you earn is just enough to get by,” said Rohaida.
“I really don’t care who is in power. I malas nak tau (I don’t want to know). Even this time around, it’s just political play. People like me can’t do anything. If they really cared, they wouldn’t be doing this.”
She is, of course, referring to the recent political drama that has once again brought nationwide spotlight to the east coast state.
Once led by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad of Barisan Nasional (BN), his 25-year hold on the helm ended when the state fell to PAS in 1999 but regained it in 2004.
BN won back the state in the 2013 general election with a lesser majority, winning only 17 of the 32 seats. PAS has 14 seats while Parti Keadilan Rakyat has one.
A little more than a year after the general election, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said resigned following an agreement that he would do so and more drama ensued.
This is not the first time Ahmad has been drawn into controversy. In 2008, he wrangled the position after Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin swore him into the post.
Then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s choice of Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh was rejected. Ahmad went ahead and started his job and after a standoff between Umno and the palace, he kept his job.
Kuala Terengganu Umno division chairman Datuk Mohd Sabri Alwi lamented that the state is Umno’s to lose citing the in-fighting between the upper echelons of leadership in the state.
“It was stable under Wan Mokhtar and Idris. But now it isn’t. We need to be united. And it is up to YB Razif to bring us together. He needs to do and not just talk,” he said.
He said the political scenario was such that while there were PAS supporters, it was the fence sitters that one had to fight for.
“You see even now PAS is not making much noise. It is a problem for us when Umno fights,” he said.
A local political observer said cracks were deepening and the state BN, specifically Umno, had the next three years to improve matters.
“Razif, as head, should drive the state into boosting the economy for the urban, rural and suburban people,” he said, adding that oil royalty should be used to this end.
Former politician Tan Sri Wong Foon Meng said BN’s declining popularity had caused the current situation.
“In Terengganu, the opposition is not strong. In a way, it is the factions within BN. It was not that serious in the 1970s, 80s or 90s,” said the former Bandar assemblyman.
The former MCA secretary-general added that the state fell to PAS in 1999 due to events like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim getting a bruised eye while detained.
He added that PAS had made some inroads in the last general election.
The state, he said, had come a long way from being the poorest to having development.
“Improve the livelihood. Development should be for all across the board,” he said.
