From afar, Kedah looks like it is ready to fall but on the ground,
the battle lines are quite blurred and its small town culture deters
politicians on either side from being as aggressive as their
counterparts elsewhere.
IT was quite bizarre seeing
Tan Sri
Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, or Mr Bow Tie as he is known, on the dimly-lit
stage surrounded by
PAS leaders in a tiny village near Baling.
The usually debonair politician had dressed down for the occasion, wearing a white
baju Melayu teamed with a brown and yellow
sampin.
Kadir, or “Kadiak” as he is known in the Kedah Malay dialect, had quit
Umno in a huff last month and this was his maiden appearance on the PAS
platform alongside PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and Kedah Mentri
Besar Datuk Seri
Azizan Abdul Razak.
Kadir: Caused ripples when he appeared on the PAS stage.
Politics
in the new political landscape has often resembled TV reality shows –
dramatic, quite absurd but oh so entertaining – and the Kadir episode is
Kedah’s latest reality show.
PAS ceramah draw the biggest crowds
when something new happens, and that evening the “new thing” was Kadir
talking about why he abandoned Umno. Kadir’s exit could not have
happened at a better time for PAS in Kedah and it is planning to ride on
him,
This, despite the fact that PAS leaders have, for years, portrayed Kadir’s “
istana”
or palace in Baling as an example of Umno’s excess. His house does
resemble a palace. It is an elaborate pink, white and gold monument
built on an elevated piece of land and has a regal driveway, gazebos and
ponds in the massive grounds.
The most unsettling thing about the “
istana”
is that it is standing on what was once the poorest district in Kedah.
But it looks like PAS leaders are prepared to forget all the things they
said about Kadir now that he is on their side.
Kedah is the
shakiest of the Pakatan Rakyat states and PAS politicians are praying
that Kadir will help them in Baling, if not the whole State. At 73, the
flamboyant ex-Umno minister is past his prime but is a famous name in
these parts.
“My worry is that what he says will cast doubts in people’s minds,” said his younger brother, Umno politician Datuk Aziz.
Aziz,
who had cried, holding on to his brother’s knees begging him not to
desert Umno, is deeply disappointed about what has happened. But blood
is thicker than water and Aziz is reluctant to say anything bad about
Kadir. However, if PAS fields Kadir as a candidate, brother may have to
fight brother in the name of politics.
From afar, Kedah looks
like it is about to fall but, on the ground, the battle lines are quite
blurred. People here talk about politics but not in the obsessed way of
Klang Valley folk and definitely minus all the vitriol and hate found on
the Internet.
Kedah politics is not as ugly or confrontational as that in Penang or Perak namely because the racial element is not as stark.
DAP has a limited presence here and its sole assemblyman does not have a good working relationship with the Government.
PKR
is hobbled by poor quality assemblymen, some of whom cannot speak
Bahasa Malaysia. One of them is reportedly a medium who goes into
trances. He was appointed a State exco member before the pressure to
perform caused him to quit.
Kedah still has that small-town
culture where everybody seems to know everybody. As a result, they are
quite reluctant to say bad things about each other. It certainly makes
for a more civil level of politics.
On the defensive
Quite
a bit of it also has to do with the Mentri Besar’s personality. Azizan
is an Alpha male with an ego but he is not a petty politician. He is
highly educated unlike many of the other ulama in PAS and, as a
true-blue Kedah man, he has an intimate feel of the ground.
Unlike
his counterpart in Penang, he does not spend his days and nights
attacking Umno and blaming it for everything; likewise, Umno does not
attack him unnecessarily.
Civil
politics: Some people in PAS have criticised Azizan (far left, with
sunglasses) for refusing to criticise Umno leaders especially the two
famous Tuns in Kedah. He is seen here with (from his left) Najib, the
King and Queen. — Bernama
But make no mistake, both sides are adamant about forming the next State Government.
The
last few years have found the Pakatan Government on the defensive as
they struggled with the demands of governing a State whose populace is
still dependent on the Government’s largesse. Its inexperience was all
too evident during the 2010 floods, and infighting in PAS over the last
one year has affected the administration’s image and may jeopardise its
party machinery.
State Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah
catapulted into the public eye during the big floods when he swung into
action, setting up evacuation centres and organising aid to those
affected.
Bashah is the assemblyman for Bakar Bata, a state seat
in the urban
Alor Setar parliamentary constituency. The old Umno
building located at the busiest intersection in Alor Setar has huge,
billboard-sized pictures of him in action during the floods. His
supporters wanted to put up billboards of such pictures in other parts
of the capital but could not get a permit from the local authority.
Most
accounts place Bashah as the Mentri Besar-in-waiting, an idea that he
tries to downplay but you could tell that he liked the sound of it
because his face immediately broke out into the sweetest of smiles.
But he said: “My job is to win back Kedah. The MB’s post, that we leave to the Prime Minister and God.”
Bashah
looks like a fierce bulldog in photographs but in person he smiles
easily and is the sort of Malay politician who calls everybody a friend
even though he may have met you only half an hour earlier.
Malays
make up 75% of the population in Kedah, and Umno is confident that the
5% Malay vote swing back to Umno will play out in Kedah more clearly
than in other west coast States.
One of the reasons why the State
fell was because
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was then waging war against
Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Kedah’s most famous citizen has since thrown
his support behind
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. His renewed presence in
Kedah has also sparked talk that his son, Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz
Mahathir, is also in the running for the Mentri Besar post.
Another
famous Kedahan, Tun
Daim Zainuddin, has also warmed up to Umno
following some soured years during the Abdullah regime. The somewhat
reclusive Daim has given strategic interviews to the Chinese vernacular
papers in the last few months; many think he is trying to help soften
the Chinese vote.
The views of these powerful men will not
necessarily make people rush to embrace the Barisan but their
endorsement, as they say in the advertising world, will help sell the
Barisan brand.
But Barisan’s biggest brand name is still Najib.
He recently marked his third year as Prime Minister and has shown
admirers and critics that he has what it takes for the job.
The Hokkien-speaking Chinese in Kedah often say “Najib
eh yong,” meaning that Najib is capable.
The Chinese sentiment in Kedah does not seem as hell-bent on punishing Umno as their counterparts elsewhere.
Mukhriz: The Mahathir family name carries weight in Kedah.
According
to Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall secretary Datuk Tan Son Lee, the Chinese
living in the southern end like Kulim and Sungai Petani tend to
identify with what is going on in Penang. They tend to spend their
weekends and holidays in Penang and a sizeable number do business or
work there. They identify so much with Penang that when they go to Alor
Setar, they actually say, “
ki Ketah” which means “go to Kedah” in Hokkien.
Although the Chinese are generally not into the politics of PAS, they do not have major issues with Azizan.
“He is quite easy to deal with. But the people around him do not have the same thinking,” said Tan.
Many
Chinese businessmen, especially developers in the Alor Setar area,
think the PAS-led government is not business friendly. The State
Government has been reluctant to convert agricultural land for
development and talk is that PAS is playing geo-politics; it is worried
that the loss of agricultural activity will change the voter profile.
“Alor
Setar does not have industries and housing development is a major
activity. The projects going on are those approved before 2008 and the
slowdown has affected downline activities,” said Bakar Arang assemblyman
Dr Cheah Soon Hai.
Businesses affected
Doing business under the Barisan was tough but they were finding out how much tougher it was under Pakatan.
In
contrast, Sungai Petani is bustling with development. One knows that
one is near Sungai Petani when billboards of housing and commercial
schemes start to appear.
What the Chinese business community is
most uncomfortable about is PAS’ tendency to attach religious
foundations to policies. For example, its latest ruling forbidding any
challenge to the state’s fatwa pronouncements.
Ironically,
Azizan, despite his faltering health and having to fend off enemies from
within, is his party’s chief asset. His moral high ground stems from
the perception that he has not used his position to enrich himself.
He
has two wives and his first wife’s house is a nondescript brick and
wooden structure with peeling paint. He has eight children from the
first family, all graduates and none, he emphasised, is involved in any
of the State GLCs.
His second wife’s house is a sort of annex to
his service centre in his Sungai Limau constituency. She is a teacher,
and on the day of this interview, their daughter, the youngest of their
six children, returned from school riding pillion on a relative’s
motorcycle.
Azizan is also unapologetic about his regard for Dr Mahathir or even Daim.
“People
say I am close to Tun Mahathir, they are not happy. But he is a
statesman, I want to learn from him. If not for Tun Mahathir, there
would be no Universiti Utara Malaysia or Langkawi. He is the father of
Langkawi’s development and I am co-chairman of Lada,” said Azizan.
His
pet project, the Insaniah Kolej Universiti, is coming up beautifully in
Kuala Ketil even though the issue over the suspension of several of the
students earlier this year was damaging.
He insisted that he had
no hard feelings against the two exco members, Datuk Phahrolrazi Zawawi
and Dr Ismail Salleh, who tried to topple him, describing it as a
“family misunderstanding”. But when the State Assembly sat on Monday,
Phahrolrazi, who used to be seated next to the Mentri Besar, had been
moved one seat down while the next senior figure, Datuk Taulan Mat
Rasul, was moved up.
His rival who used to be second-in-line is
now third-in-line. Azizan might seem feeble and laidback to the casual
observer but he is quite the political animal and should not be
underestimated. He intends to defend his seat in the election and, if
his health permits and the party agrees, to continue as Mentri Besar.
Kedah
is still awash with celebratory signs of their sovereign’s ascension as
the King. Everywhere one turns, there are signboards and banners
proclaiming “Daulat Tuanku” and “Daulat Tahniah” to the royal couple. He
is a popular sovereign and Kedahans are proud about their Sultan’s
second turn on the throne.
PAS, on the other hand, is asking for a
second term. They have been telling Kedahans that Barisan has enjoyed
50 years in power and that they should be given another five years.
“The
2008 election was a lesson for all of us. The next election is not
about five years or 50 years but people can now compare who is better at
serving them,” said Bashah.
The battle for the hearts and minds of Kedah people has started.
Source :
http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2012/4/22/columnists/joceline/11137456&sec=Joceline
