Age versus looks in bellwether polls

Despite what it seems on the surface, the Teluk Intan contest will test the political pulse of the west coast electorate.

Joceline Tan, The Star

THE camera loves Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud. Her photograph was on the front pages of all the Chinese vernacular newspapers and she looked good in every single picture.

The DAP candidate for Teluk Intan is definitely the prettiest face to ever appear in DAP. Dyana is also very young and during the launch of the party campaign centre, a couple of the DAP leaders looked like antique furniture next to her.

She is only 27, a lawyer and a relative greenhorn despite her credentials as Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary.

Her competitor for the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, is not too bad-looking either and can look quite boyish when he flashes his dimpled smile. But at 53, the Gerakan president is old enough to be her father.

The good thing about Mah’s ageing-gracefully look is that he is not vain, unlike many politicians who colour their hair a ghastly jet-black in an attempt to look youthful.

Age and looks aside, however, Teluk Intan is going to be one of those bellwether contests. Its constituency profile makes it an apt case study of the political pulse of the urbanised west coast.

The seat is slightly more urban than rural with an ethnic make-up of 41% Chinese, 38% Malays and 19% Indians.

This is the kind of mixed seat which Pakatan Rakyat has dominated in the last two general elections.

“It’s the place to test the pulse, to see whether sentiments have changed,” said a Penang-based political analyst.

There is no doubt that Mah is the best man from Gerakan for the job. He was born in Teluk Intan, he still has relatives in these parts and his wealthy family is a big player in the business and agricultural sectors in the area.

Everybody knows him in Teluk Intan. The local folk, especially those from the older generation, have good things to say about him because Mah’s political career in Perak began as the assemblyman for Pasir Bedamar, a state seat in Teluk Intan, before he went on to be a two-term MP for the area.

Good looks attract attention and the Internet has been pulsing with news about the Ipoh-born Dyana.

There has been a lot of discussion about her being from an Umno family and it is a sign of the times that this UiTM-educated woman is where she is today.

There is quite little news about her father but she has the unconditional love and support of her mother Yammy Samad.

The DAP choice was between Dyana and one of the most famous names in the party, Hew Kuan Yau aka Superman. The former MP who died had reportedly wanted Hew to succeed him.

But Hew’s ultra-Chinese image would have sent the Malays running off and screaming in fright. Besides, this dying wish syndrome has to stop because it is making DAP look like a feudalistic party where seats are passed on to children and cronies.

Taking Dyana was a gamble but also a shrewd strategic move. The party is banking on her to be the game changer – a young, female and Malay face who can help to change the Chinese chauvinist image of the party for the better.

“Teluk Intan would have been a sure-win for DAP with a Chinese candidate. But they would only be defending what they already have. They want to send a message that they are for a new Malaysia,” said the above political analyst.

To inch closer to Putrajaya, they need to win this sort of mixed, semi-urban seats. If they lose, it is one seat down. If they win, however, they can go all over town blowing their trumpet.

Dyana may not get the older conservative Malay vote, but she could get support among the younger Malays.

DAP has done its number-crunching. They reckon they can get 75% of the Chinese vote, 60% of the Indian vote as well as some of the young Malay vote.

But as Dyana would know, being a Malay politician in DAP is like standing on a double-edged sword.

There is now a photograph going around of Dyana and her mother posing happily next to Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali at a function.

She has also pledged to oppose the hudud Bills that will be tabled by PAS in the September meeting of Parliament and that is going to give her a headache on the Malay ground.

But Mah is hardly a push-over. As Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said, Mah understands Teluk Intan like the back of his hand.

He knows the people and the issues and he can hit the ground running unlike his opponent, who is still feeling her way around town.

Gerakan people insist the prominent Mah family name still has the magic touch in Teluk Intan, although the magic was definitely missing in 2008 and 2013.

Mah’s loss in 2008 was because of the Indian vote which, influenced by the Hindraf movement, abandoned Barisan Nasional.

In 2013, the loss was even more devastating because the Chinese also went over to the other side.

Can Mah reverse the tide? Will he be able to persuade the voters to fall in love with him again even as everyone rushes to have a close-up look at his sweet young thing of a rival?

It is do-or-die for Mah. A win will cement his hold on Gerakan and even usher him into the Cabinet but a defeat will effectively end his political career.

Both Mah and Dyana have much to gain and lose in Teluk Intan.