Bersatu's fray into Umno strongholds redraws family allegiances

SPECIAL REPORT | For many Malay villages in Malacca, like the one in Kampung Tampoi, Umno and community living are one of the same.

Nor Azlan Abu Bakar, a local villager in his 30s, has known Umno all his life and was an Umno member for 13 years.

Together with his uncle, who is the Kampung Tampoi Umno branch chief, they formed a tag team for the local leadership - one for the young and another for the old.

But when Nor Azlan decided to join Umno splinter Bersatu, the notion that blood was thicker than water was put to the test.

“He (my uncle) was very angry when I left the party, very angry.

“When my friends and I went house-to-house to introduce Bersatu in the village, I went to greet my uncle.

“I was kicked out and scolded by my own uncle," Nor Azlan related.

Nor Azlan, who is now the Tangga Batu Bersatu division committee member, admitted that family ties had become strained due to the political split in Umno.

While some family members had ostracised him, Nor Azlan was grateful that his parents had not.

He conceded that they too were still leaning towards Umno and such is the case for many older members of his family.

But Nor Azlan believes that he has managed to convince his parents not to vote for Umno in the next general election.

“They just do not want to change political parties,” he said when met at the Tangga Batu Bersatu general election operations room.

Nor Azlan said the younger members of his family had switched from Umno to Bersatu, including his siblings and friends.

Eyeing fence sitters

However, Bersatu is mindful that recruiting members in Umno strongholds was only the first step towards mounting a serious challenge against Umno.

A key group the party has targeted is Umno members who are now on the fence but could potentially be pushed over the edge due to growing dissent over bread and butter issues.

Bersatu member Hasrul Hassan sees this among his family members, who have traditionally been strong Umno supporters, with some even holding party positions.

For example, Hasrul’s sister is an Umno Wanita branch chief while his brother is an Umno Youth branch chief.

“My brother (who is the Umno Youth branch chief) is still leaning towards Umno, but the rest of my family, even my father who is in his 60s, I see the way he thinks has also become neutral,” Hasrul said.

He said his father could see that the cost of living has increased, and has begun to question what good the GST and subsidy cuts have done for the country and for Malacca.

“He (my father) will question, does our quality of life improve with GST. Like in Malacca, what has the government done to improve things with the GST money?” he asked.

Hasrul said while many of the older generation were staunch Umno supporters, there was also nostalgia about Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad's premiership in the 80s as the perception is that "things were better" then.

“When we talk among the family, we question everything about Najib, what the prime minister is doing, what the Malacca chief minister is doing,” he said.

Targetting CM

Another point Bersatu had sought to capitalise on was on the perception that Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron had not been as active as his predecessor Ali Rustam in showing up at community events.

Despite Ali Rustam having generated controversy over his "apa lagi Cina mau" comment, he was seen a people-friendly chief minister among the Malay community in the outskirts of Malacca.

However, Ali Rustam contested the suburban mixed parliamentary seat of Bukit Katil instead of the Malay heartland in the last general election and was defeated by PKR's Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin.

The villages Malaysiakini visited are located within the parliamentary constituency of Tangga Batu and the state constituency of Paya Rumput, both of which have never had a representative that was not from Umno.

The other three state seats within Tangga Batu are Sungai Udang and Pantai Kundor held by Umno and Klebang held by MCA. All are Malay-majority seats.

Idris was Tangga Batu MP before moving to the state seat of Sungai Udang to take up the mettle as chief minister in the 13th general election.

Even though Ali Rustam is still staunchly Umno, Bersatu had in its ceramah circuit used the former chief minister as an example to contrast with Idris.

In a small Bersatu gathering in Sungai Udang, the crowd responded positively when Malacca Bersatu deputy chief Rafiq Naizamohideen praised Ali for always showing up for any major events in his constituents’ lives, such as weddings, funerals and even the birth of their children.

“Even the night before the child is delivered, Ali Rustam will be at their doorstep to visit them, because he knows he will be busy the next day,” he said.

Idris, on the other hand, seldom makes such appearances, he claimed.

Abu Bakar Husin, a 78-year-old resident at Krubong, said Ali used to visit his housing area very often.

He even recalled that another former Malacca Chief Minister Rahim Thamby Chik had visited the area before.

However, Umno supporters have not quietly tolerated Bersatu's attempt to undermine the party.

In November last year, Pakatan Harapan activists who sought to promote Mahathir's upcoming ceramah in Tangga Batu ended up having one of their vehicles torched.

However, Rafiq claimed the incident did not bode well among the locals who had much respect for Mahathir, and created sympathy for Bersatu.

“The community in Kampung Krubong felt very angry... The sympathy then helped enhance the support for Bersatu,” Rafiq said.

When Mahathir visited the village on Nov 26 last year, several locals, including widow Fazizah Dat, signed up as Bersatu members.

Rafiq said Bersatu had used that incident and ceramah as footholds to expand its influence in the Umno stronghold.

The party has also started setting up their machinery in all voting districts within Tangga Batu.

When Malaysiakini made a brief visit to Bersatu’s Tangga Batu operations room, maps and demographic data of the area were already pinned up along the wall.

Tables were set up in a U-shape and local Bersatu leaders were in attendance for a meeting about their preparations for the upcoming general elections.

However, Bersatu acknowledged that it did not have grand dreams as challenging Umno was indeed an uphill task.

Its goal is realistic, with the aim of capturing the Paya Rumput state seat in Tangga Batu.

Rafiq acknowledged that it was a monumental task to unseat Idris in neighbouring Sungai Udang, where Idris won by a majority of more than 9,000 votes, aided by the Terendak army camp.

However, he hopes to at least send a message to the Malacca chief minister.

“Even if we cannot win Sungai Udang, at least we can cut down the number of voters (choosing BN),” he said.- Mkini