PKR’s Batu Sapi campaign takes a shaky start
Even de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who made several ceramah stops in the coastal township last night, was not shy to make the admission.
“We are working very hard but we are still trailing. Yes, we are behind,” he told The Malaysian Insider after a short stop at Kampung Gas here last night.
The opposition leader also pointed to Barisan Nasional’s massive election machinery and manpower as a contributing factor to PKR’s flailing campaign.
“Their enormous resources... and the threats that they have made against us. You know, in a few ceramahs, they threatened us, told us we could not use the homes to speak to voters,” Anwar said.
He however added that despite the odds, he believed PKR had made some inroads in the BN stronghold over the past few days.
“We have made a lot of inroads... you can see from tonight’s response. It was quite refreshing,” he said.
Anwar was referring to the group of villagers who crowded into a small wooden house in the fishing village of Kampung Gas to listen to his speech.
The villagers, numbering to about 50, were animated in their response to Anwar’s words and punctuated his every declaration with emphatic applause and loud hoots.
“Put Ansari in Parliament. Can you compare him with (BN candidate Datin) Linda (Tsen Thau Lin) or (Sabah Progressive Party’s) Yong (Teck Lee)? There is no competition at all,” he thundered to the listening villagers.
He added that Tsen would not be as capable as Ansari, a veteran politician and lawyer, when representing the people in Parliament.
The group shouted a loud “No!” in response.
The house, built precariously on rotting wooden stilts, literally shook with each round of cheers.
Despite this, a significant number of villagers had chosen to stay away from the fray and watched from behind their windows at the small cluster of people who crowded the home.
Some of those who did turn up and were in high spirits admitted to The Malaysian Insider later that while they enjoyed Anwar’s steady rhetoric, they were not in support of PKR.
“In this village, the people want BN. It is very clear, you cannot avoid it,” said one youth.
Another middle-aged villager agreed with the view and said that it was hardly considered an option to vote for the peninsular-based opposition party.
Sabah-based SAPP however, he said, was “not a bad choice”.
“SAPP is okay too. We do not mind the SAPP. If not BN, then SAPP,” another villager said to a round of nods from his friends standing nearby.
When asked why however, the villagers hesitated.
One said, “we are not really sure” while another admitted that it was because of the free handouts from BN during election period.
“Because BN likes to give us gifts,” said the villager, smiling.
Later, Anwar left for another ceramah, this time in Kampung Lupak Meluas in Karamunting.
Here, an even smaller group huddled together in the living room of a villager’s home to listen to the PKR stalwart.
Even though Anwar used a microphone to deliver his speech, it was clear that he did not need to.
Earlier, Anwar made his first stop at a DAP-organised ceramah in Sandakan.
A short distance away, a BN function attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin drew a crowd of hundreds.
For Anwar, the experience was a far cry from the ceramahs he is used to, especially in the peninsular when, more often than not, a sea of thousands would throng open fields and listen in rapt attention to his every word.
If last night was a clear enough indication, it almost looks as if Ansari may take his final tumble come polling day next Thursday.
The determined politician however insisted in Kampung Gas last night that this would not be the case.
Hand wrapped in a blue sling as a result of his fall earlier in the afternoon, Ansari was a picture of confidence when he delivered his speech after Anwar.
“Who saw me fall just now? I did not fall. The bridge fell. I went to Api-Api island a few days ago and the jetty collapsed. Today, I came to Kampung Gas and the bridge collapse. But when I come to Batu Sapi, it is BN that will collapse,” he boomed to a round of loud cheers and whistles.
Earlier during his visit to Kampung Gas, Ansari ended in seawater when a wooden platform gave way and crashed.
It is the politician’s second tumble since the campaign began on Tuesday.
Ansari is facing Tsen and Yong for the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat this November 4.
The seat fell vacant after Tsen’s late husband and two-term MP Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah died in a tragic biking accident on October 9.
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