PKR’s Fahmi Fadzil on how petai can help win the party votes in Setiawangsa
Ida Lim, Malay Mail Online
PKR’s Fahmi Fadzil knows the price of petai in Setiawangsa’s markets and he is hoping this might just help the party win the federal seat in the next general elections.
Just a month into running PKR’s rebooted Setiawangsa service centre, the seasoned election campaigner already has a handle on what concerns the people living here; from traffic jams right down to the rising cost of doing business for a petai trader.
The PKR communications director, better known in his previous role as Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s political secretary, has been ramping up the political party’s efforts in building up voter support in Setiawangsa.
Why Setiawangsa?
Setiawangsa is the sole federal seat in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur that PKR lost in the last elections.
“I think for the party the importance of the seat is quite clear, that in 2008 and 2013, we have seen a growth in the number, in the percentage of the number of votes that we have acquired and I think that is a healthy development politically, so we want to grow our vote-share in Setiawangsa,” the PKR Youth vice-chief told Malay Mail Online recently.
Fahmi said the gap between opposition party PKR and its rival Umno in Setiawangsa is steadily narrowing, pointing to the margin of only 1,390 votes between the former’s Ibrahim Yaakob and the incumbent party’s Ahmad Fauzi Zahari in Election 2013.
“We are very close to victory but close is not close enough, we have to push harder,” said Fahmi.
He underlined the crucial need for PKR to win Setiawangsa in order to better the federal opposition’s electoral performance against the Barisan Nasional coalition, which maintained its 50-odd year rule by winning 133 out of 222 federal seats in 2013.
Fahmi hopes PKR’s rebooted Setiawangsa service centre will allow the party to engage with the area’s residents better. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Setiawangsa woes
Since assuming the role as PKR Setiawangsa service centre co-ordinator, Fahmi has met and engaged with at least 1,000 Setiawangsa residents through weekly mobile counters and door-to-door visits.
Like many Malaysians, Setiawangsa residents are worried about making ends meet and struggling with higher living costs exacerbated by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a still weak ringgit, Fahmi said.
“I think you start seeing it among the traders, when we go to all the morning markets, people who are selling everything from kacang dhal where they used to pay RM3.50 per kg to sell, now they have to pay close to RM11 per kg; people who are selling eggs find that their weekly income has been sliced in half; people who are selling petai now have to pay three times as much as they used to, so I think people are finding that they have to adjust very, very quickly and very, very suddenly to this new normal,” he said.
Fahmi offers detailed stories of hardships faced by the lower-income residents he meets, people who he fear will be left behind as development and progress come to Setiawangsa.
Unemployment and underemployment, with some forced to take up two jobs, are also chronic problems among the working class community in Setiawangsa, Fahmi said.
“So I know people who are working practically six days a week, 10 hours a day to earn RM1,500… so you spend a lot of your time at a job that does not pay as much but that is the only job that you can find,” he said, citing the example of a widow who has to raise three schoolchildren on such a monthly pay cheque.
Fahmi’s PKR service centre recently gave out free school uniforms to 70 poor families, but he notes that aid is still required even for households earning beyond the RM3,000 mark set by the federal government for its cash handouts under the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) scheme.
“The problem there is also that even if you earn RM4,000, it’s difficult in KL if you have a family of four, especially if there are like kids, babies… it’s very tough. We try to look at people who won’t be eligible to receive BR1M, for example, and we try to help this group as well,” he said.
Fahmi says a symposium or national conversation should be held to review the design and construction of low-cost and affordable public housing. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Last December 20, 20 medical specialists volunteered their time to give free medical care to around 300 low-cost flat residents in a PKR-organised event, Fahmi said.
“The other big thing we did was a medical camp in the PPR, we discovered what’s really painful is a lot of people have little access to healthcare. Yes, they have a Klinik 1Malaysia there in PPR Desa Rejang, but a lot of people feel that it’s not enough,” he said.
Other challenges that Setiawangsa residents are facing are growing traffic congestion with new high-rises coming up rapidly and the fear that the local hiking spot and green lung Bukit Dinding will be lost to several projects, Fahmi said.
Advocating for sustainable development that will still serve the market’s needs, Fahmi voices concern that expected redevelopment would displace an entire community of around 500 families who have lived for over 30 years in the five-storey DBKL flats they own there — a scenario reminiscent of the Kerinchi flats residents’ experience in the now rebranded KL Gateway area.
Tapping into lasting solutions
Although the work of federal lawmakers in areas such as Setiawangsa is generally focused on policy-making, Fahmi says he believes there is a need to observe the nitty-gritty in local communities to come up with better policies and solutions for Malaysians.
“So I think policy makers, politicians, parliamentarians, need to broaden that view in fact to dive deeper into problems, to really work with specialists, work with researchers, work with research universities to find both a solution that is amenable to the market but also sustainable for the community,” said Fahmi, who felt his training as a chemical engineer informs his problem-solving approach.
Fahmi also mooted a symposium or national conversation to review the design and construction of low-cost and affordable public housing, which he said should not be treated as a mere afterthought by private developers.
“Low cost does not necessarily mean low grade, it cannot mean low grade because these are people’s lives and you can’t afford that kind of slipshod (quality) or something that doesn’t last at least two generations,” he said.
Fahmi said PKR is not looking to merely give out aid and financial relief, but wants to help provide education and upskilling so that Setiawangsa residents may eventually be able to find better-paying jobs.
Fahmi’s PKR service centre recently gave out free school uniforms to 70 poor families, and will spearhead other community-related activities. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Fahmi said the PKR service centre, rebooted on December 4, will set up a community library, and possibly a mobile library, with other plans being mulled including tuition classes and sponsored scholarships for students.
The service centre is also educating the public on their roles and their rights as well as what they can do to change things, instead of waiting once every five years for the elections.
“So that’s why one of the things we are doing right now is an attempt to increase the political literacy of people in Setiawangsa and what that means is that people understand that they are empowered to affect a certain kind of change, even outside of election season,” he said.
At the same time, Fahmi says PKR is encouraging eligible voters to register as “every vote counts” in Setiawangsa, which has an estimated voting pool size of around 64,000 people.
He described Setiawangsa as divided by the DUKE with those to the north largely in the lower- and middle-income group, while the area south of the highway has Defence of Ministry assets, army camps, police training centres and those with higher wages.
While some may view Setiawangsa as an Umno stronghold due to the early votes and postal votes from its voters in the civil service, Fahmi believes that residents in the Kuala Lumpur constituency on the edge of Selangor’s borders have observed how the latter was better administered by the PKR-led government with items such as a free quota of water and exemption from property assessment tax.
“So a lot of people in Setiawangsa, they are constantly thinking, yes, KL is like this, there’s a lot of economic opportunities in KL, but why is it in Selangor, it’s so much better?” he said.
All this, of course, is fuelling Fahmi’s hopes that Setiawangsa voters may now be ready for a representative from PKR.
