It's No Easy Task Wooing Galas Voters
By Zubaidah Abu Bakar
With a baby strapped to their front, two young Orang Asli mothers walked leisurely into the compound of Sekolah Kebangsaan Pos Brooke, some 90km from Gua Musang, Kelantan, to attend a gathering where Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was scheduled to speak on Wednesday.
Shy smiles graced the faces of five young children walking shoeless behind the women, who obviously were their mothers. They were excited to join the crowd that had gathered at the school field.
Occasions like this were rare for the Orang Asli community here. They were mostly from the Temiar tribe, with others from minority tribes, such as the Manduk and Batik.
Politics was not on their minds that day.
A young man was overheard telling his friends that many were hoping to hear good news, what plans the authorities had to improve their livelihoods, and a commitment to resolve longstanding issues especially over customary land rights, besides enjoying some good food.
The last gathering for the community from 18 villages around the Pos Brooke settlement was the Hari Raya Aidilfitri event recently, which was attended by Gua Musang Member of Parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
The crowd appeared to be satisfied when Muhyiddin announced, among others, the building of 200 houses under the People's Housing Project (PPR) worth about RM7.2 million, and upgrading and repair works to existing houses which would cost the government about RM2.75 million.
They could also look forward to a new secondary school, which, according to Muhyiddin, is long overdue, since children from the villages either had to go to Gua Musang or Cameron Highlands to continue their education.
The community was also given generator sets, grass-cutting machines and solar panels.
The Galas state by-election on Nov 4 has somewhat shifted the focus of political parties to the 2,300-strong Orang Asli community, of whom 1,889 are registered Galas voters.
They are traditionally Barisan Nasional supporters. Their electoral loyalty, however, is often towards a person, rather than a party.
In this case, the person is Tengku Razaleigh, who has held the Gua Musang parliamentary seat (formerly Hulu Kelantan) since 1974.
The Orang Asli make up 15 per cent of the 11,553 Galas voters. Nine per cent of the voters are from the Temiar tribe. In the 1999, 2004 and 2008 elections, the community largely voted BN.
In 2008, 241 of 365 votes in Pos Brooke went to BN and 112 to Pas. BN obtained 158 votes to Pas' 105 in Sungai Ber.
The scores in Belatim (BN-74, Pas-11), Balar (BN-85, Pas-51), Bihai (BN-82, Pas-27) and Hau (BN-115, Pas-81) similarly favoured BN. There were 38 spoilt votes, which local political leaders believed had been done on purpose.
Umno and Pas are competing for the Orang Asli vote, with key campaigners making trips to their settlements since the seat fell vacant following the death of Pas representative Che Hashim Sulaima last month.
Both sides are anxious for their votes as analysts had indicated that a five per cent swing in the community could determine who gets the seat.
Tengku Razaleigh had acknowledged the importance of non-Malay support, which include the Orang Asli, Chinese and Indians.
An Umno victory is much needed to prove the nationalist party's relevance to the Malay community.
Political watchers view the by-election as a bellwether for Malay votes in the next general election since 60 per cent of the state constituency's electorate consists of Malay voters.
It is an electoral battle where Umno will try to prove that it is the party for the Malays compared with archrival Pas, which had grabbed Galas, a previous Umno stronghold, in 2008.
Galas is the only state seat in Gua Musang to fall to Pas in the last general election, albeit with only a 646-vote majority. The other two state seats -- Nengiri and Paloh -- were retained by Umno.
Malays make up 61.63 per cent of the 11,553 voters in the Galas constituency, while the Chinese comprise 20.08 per cent, Indians 1.6 per cent, and other communities, mostly Orang Asli, approximately 17 per cent.
A large number of Malays, including Umno members, did not vote for Umno and BN candidates in the last general election, renewing Pas' mandate to govern Kelantan, which it has held since 1990 and making Kedah a new power-base for Pas after Umno lost the Malay-majority state to the Islamist party and its allies in Pakatan Rakyat.
The by-elections in Bukit Gantang, Manik Urai, Bagan Pinang and Hulu Selangor, however, had seen a slight increase in Malay votes for Umno. The Umno candidate did not win Manik Urai, an almost exclusive Malay constituency, but reduced Pas' winning majority to 65 from 1,300.
Statistics also show that the fight for the Malay vote has always been neck and neck between Umno and Pas, and for five decades, Pas has not been able to surpass Umno's popularity overall among the Malays.
All is not lost for Umno since Malay support had not shifted significantly to Pas when Umno suffered historic setbacks in the 2008 general election. Pas won many of its seats with non-Malay votes.
In the number of parliamentary seats won in the last election, Pas, with 24, is far behind Umno's 79.
Tengku Razaleigh knows that wresting Galas from Pas is no easy job, given that the mindset of the people has changed.
But he understands the feelings and needs of the voters, the logistics and the population distribution in the area, and this could work well for Umno and BN.
The Umno leadership has full confidence in Tengku Razaleigh.
"We will follow whatever campaign strategy deemed effective for Barisan by Tengku Razaleigh," Muhyiddin had said. - New Straits Times
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