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Saturday, November 20, 2021

Melaka Polls: Spotlight on 'King' and 'Queen' of Tanjung Bidara

The Star:

Melaka Polls: Spotlight on 'King' and 'Queen' of Tanjung Bidara

By JOCELINE TAN



THE stakes in the high-profile seat of Tanjung Bidara have shot up.

The fight between Datuk Seri Rauf Yusoh and Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin will be a must-watch on election night now that the latter has been officially confirmed as Perikatan Nasional’s chief minister (CM) candidate in the Melaka state election.

The contest in Tanjung Bidara has been the talk of the town from the start because of Rauf’s reputation as the most powerful man in the previous state government.

But now Rauf is up against someone who could become the most powerful woman in Melaka.

Of course, Perikatan has to first win enough seats to form the government before Mas Ermieyati can become CM and she needs a miracle for that to happen.

Tanjung Bidara is a rustic coastal seat with only about 10,000 voters. But it has the highest concentration of Malays who make up 94% of registered voters.

Mas Ermieyati had struggled against the network that Rauf commands as the state Umno chairman, but she has turned out to be a tough cookie.

Naming her as CM candidate at the 11th hour was a clever strategy to elevate her status and give her a much-needed boost.

The inside joke among the Umno election team in Melaka in the past week is that the high-profile rivals are the “King” and “Queen” of Tanjung Bidara.

Rauf’s nickname in Melaka Umno is “King” because of his domineering personality and now, there is also a “Queen”.

Tanjung Bidara has become symbolic of the intense rivalry between Umno and Bersatu.

“It is a bellwether seat for which party the Malays want to represent them,” said lawyer Ivanpal S. Grewal.

Mas Ermieyati is the lifeline for Bersatu to stay relevant going into the general election.

She would be defeating an Umno bigwig if she wins. If she loses, she is still Masjid Tanah MP and a deputy minister.

“There is a king and queen but the voters are the real king this time,” said former journalist Rosli Zakaria.

Another jaw-dropping development is the appearance of former Melaka governor Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob on the campaign trail.

Mohd Khalil has been seen alongside Pakatan Harapan leaders and candidates several days in a row.

He still cuts a striking figure at 83 and despite his somewhat disoriented demeanour, there was purpose in what he was doing.

He is signalling to the Malay voters that he wants Pakatan to win.

He even spoke to the press, praising Adly Zakaria, the former CM from Pakatan, and defended him against accusations that he is a DAP puppet.

Mohd Khalil has had a long political career as the mentri besar of Pahang, a federal minister and secretary-general of Umno.

What has caused this former Umno leader to turn against the party that has given him so much?

Some in Umno claimed he holds a grudge against the party for not extending his tenure as governor.

Umno wanted the Melaka-born Tun Mohd Ali Rustam as Governor and he was sworn in not long after the Pakatan state government was ousted last year.

By then, Mohd Khalil had been governor for almost 16 years but it seems like he found it hard to let go of a good thing.

There have been so many political crossovers in Melaka but the crossover of the ex-governor takes the cake.

The final days of the campaign have been flush with fake news and negative messaging.

There was fake news about the outcome of the army and police votes, with both Pakatan and Barisan claiming the early votes were with them. This was despite the fact that the votes of the uniformed personnel will only be counted on Saturday.

Pictures of money being handed out to voters have also been making the rounds although that may not be entirely fake news.

Umno has also been quite relentless in the whisper campaign to paint Bersatu as “parti pengkhianat” (party of traitors).

Negative messaging unfortunately has a bigger audience than positive and informative campaigning.

There were also claims about which of the three coalitions is leading. Much of it has to do with psywar, to persuade voters to go along with the winning team.

Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Johari Ghani said everyone has been chasing after the 20% or so fence-sitters.

“The challenge this Saturday is voter turnout. The worry is that the elderly may stay away because of the pandemic,” said Johari.

Many of the younger folk work outstation or in Singapore and it is unclear if they will return to vote.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has maintained a muted campaign profile. It is a sensitive situation; he cannot afford the fight in Melaka to carry over into his government in Putrajaya.

But two former prime ministers have been going all out, taking pot-shots at each other.

Only Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been less than welcome in Melaka. He is a liability to Pakatan and shunned by Perikatan.

But Dr Mahathir has been bashing Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Parliament over the latter’s application for a government property worth RM100mil.

It is bound to have some effect on the Melaka ground where the candidates are about to make it around what campaigners call the “last corner” and where everything and anything can be a sensitive issue.



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