HADI’S GREEN WAVE STARTS TO WOBBLE – IN T’GANU, PAS ALREADY SEEN AS ‘HOPELESS’ PARTY TO VOTE FOR – IN KELANTAN, EVEN THE PAS ULTRAS HAVE TO CANCEL FINE TO WOMAN WEARING SHORTS FOR FEAR IT COULD UPSET PN’S ELECTORAL CHANCES IN MULTIRACIAL SELANGOR, PENANG & N.SEMBILAN
Real reason for Kelantan’s cancellation of fine for wearing shorts
I am sure many non-Muslim voters will see through this deft move on the part of PAS to rectify the daft move of the Kota Bharu Municipal Council.
I was wrong. In my previous column, I said it was unlikely that the Kota Bharu Municipal Council would retract or cancel the compound notice issued to a non-Muslim woman for wearing a pair of shorts at her shop.
I said this after noting that local government development minister Nga Kor Ming had, on June 27, urged the council to retract the compound notice because Islamic laws should not apply to her as she was not a Muslim. He also said she had a right to wear shorts, especially given that it was in her own premises where she sold shorts.
On July 1, Nga said the council had agreed to cancel the fine after a discussion with the local government department director-general.
I think I know the real reason for it. I think readers do too.
First let me state that it has nothing to do with the call by the local government development minister to the council to cancel the fine.
It has everything to do with the forthcoming elections in six states.
PAS, which controls Kelantan, does not want non-Malay voters to vote against it or the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, of which it is a key partner.
I’m sure PAS leaders, including president Hadi Awang, and Bersatu leaders, including Muhyiddin Yassin, would have conferred on the potential impact of this issue just as the six state legislative assemblies were dissolved to pave the way for elections.
The elections in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu are crucial to PN.
For one, it will show whether the hefty gains they, especially PAS, made in the 15th general election was a fluke or whether it represents the true sentiments of largely Malay voters.
PAS and Bersatu will know from the outcome of the six state elections whether the Malay votes came to them because Malays wanted to punish Umno for intense politicking and graft allegations or because they genuinely felt the latter two parties would better serve their interests.
The so-called green wave took everyone by surprise, including almost all political analysts, and, I believe, both Bersatu and PAS.
PAS won 43 parliamentary seats in GE15, becoming the political party with the most elected representatives in the Dewan Rakyat. It also heads the state governments in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis.
And PAS, together with its PN partners, would want to strike while the iron is hot in the state elections.
In fact, PN chairman Muhyiddin told FMT in an interview that his coalition was prepared to form the governments in the six states after the state elections.
It has already decided on the allocation of administrative posts, including that of menteri besar and state executive councillors if it wins. The coalition has even gone into details, distributing among the partners the posts of heads of state government-linked companies, local councillors and village security and development committee chiefs.
PN has decided that the posts of menteri besar in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan will go to Bersatu while PAS will nominate its candidates for the menteri besar post in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
It’s interesting that there was no mention of Penang in the report. I suppose Muhyiddin knows PN cannot win the state which has been a DAP stronghold since 2008. It must be noted that when the then Pakatan Rakyat defeated Gerakan in Penang in the 2008 general election, PAS was one of the partners, apart from DAP and PKR.
“After we concluded the seat negotiations, we started to discuss on forming the government (in all the states). We are one step ahead. We planned it this way because we wanted to show we are truly united,” Muhyiddin said.
In the interview, Muhyiddin also said it was crucial for his coalition to win Selangor.
“Selangor is important. It is the most developed state, not just now, but it has been for a long time. It contributes 24.8% of the national gross domestic product, which translates to around RM300 billion. We know this. That’s why we want to take over its administration, but we know it will not be easy.”
And that is why it will not do to punish a non-Muslim for wearing a pair of shorts in her own shop.
Selangor voters are not like those in Kelantan or Kedah. For one, there is a substantial non-Muslim population in Selangor. For another, even the Malay voters in Selangor are different, for they are not easily swayed by fear-mongering.
So, insisting on penalising the non-Muslim woman in Kelantan over a controversial municipal dress code may win it votes in Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan but certainly not in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang.
And that is the reason for the cancellation of the fine.
I am sure many non-Muslim voters will see through this deft move on the part of PAS to rectify the daft move of the council. FMT
In Terengganu, where PAS is seen as ‘hopeless’
On a boat ride out of Marang, an old friend recounts what has gone wrong since PAS took over the state government.
The east coast state of Terengganu makes for a great beach holiday, if one does not mind a lower standard of facilities and cleanliness, and dirty squatting toilets.
There are no five-star hotels here, and no shopping malls to match those found in Kuala Lumpur. There are also no cinemas.
Do not even ask for a steakhouse or a “Bin 42” or anything of that sort. These were ruled out even before anyone here dreamt of setting them up.
Most people I know retain their friendly nature, though, and if you speak their lingo – a rather difficult dialect to pick up – even strangers will claim you as a long lost relative or friend.
Recently, I reunited with an old friend, boatman Zaidi, who I’ve known since the late 1980s.
People in Marang know him as Pok Di, a leading boatman who for umpteen years ferried tourists from the Marang jetty to Pulau Kapas, and occasionally to Pulau Bidong or Pulau Tenggol for deep sea fishing.
Zaidi, now in his mid-50s, was a staunch Umno supporter for many years but switched to PAS just prior to 2013, when the Islamic party joined the then-Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
I last met him again three years ago. This time, he spoke vividly about local politics in Terengganu, which he said had become rather disappointing.
He told me he was disillusioned with the state leadership and was not able to hide his uneasiness with PAS.
“They are not competent, cannot govern the state and have no clue about what to do here,” he said then. I remember that conversation well.
This time around, those feelings have morphed into a high degree of rejection.
He did not just speak for himself but for members of his extended family and many friends who share similar sentiments.
Fans of PMX
Like many others who I met on this trip, Zaidi has become a loud supporter of “PMX”, the moniker now commonly used to describe Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Sitting next to me in his semi-luxurious speedboat which can accommodate up to 10 passengers, he issued stern instructions to his crew of two in the local dialect.
We had just left the jetty and were making our way out of the Marang river.
His two young able-bodied crewmen were Adnan, or Nang, who stood behind the wheel, and Husin, known as Aseng, who was at the bow navigating Nang out of the shallows towards the river mouth. Aseng also looked after the fishing gear used for deep sea fishing.
Tonight, however, we were heading for an area behind Kapas to do some squid fishing, a popular pastime for accidental tourists like me, but a regular job for many fishermen in Marang.
“You look at this breakwater,” said Pok Di, pointing to solid rocks stacked up several metres high, over several hundred metres long, to protect the river mouth from the onslaught of the monsoon.
“We are lucky the previous government decided to build this. Now, the fishermen here can go out and come back in at any time of the day. We do not have to wait for high tide any more. It has made a lot of difference to our livelihoods,” said Pok Di, who spoke very good English.
Years of handling foreign tourists had made him a good speaker of the language. It is an attribute few boatmen here have. I also know that Pok Di likes to read.
“Kuala Besut and Merang are not so fortunate,” he said. “They do not have this kind of breakwater.”
Tourism in decline
“What’s wrong with this state government,” I asked.
“Plenty,” was his immediate response. “You must know how to govern, which they don’t. A government must be for all, not just party members, and you cannot have a racist government.
“Marang used to be popular with tourists – foreign tourists, you know, from Europe, Australia and the like. Now ‘habuk pun tadak’,” he said, laughing cynically.
I nodded quietly. Pok Di was obviously bitter.
“All we have now are local tourists with limited money to spend. There has been no new investment here since PAS took over.
“Some of the resorts have closed down. All are for sale, with no buyers. Who would want to invest here,” he asked sarcastically, and rhetorically. He clearly was not expecting any answer from me.
“Don’t forget we have to close our services four or five months in a year during the monsoon. Those morons in KT (Kuala Terengganu) do not understand these things,” he lamented. FMT
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