Proud brother: Idrus (centre) standing with others at Anwar’s family home in Jalan Kilang Ubi in Cheruk Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Crab noodles in this town are Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s go-to childhood comfort food.
It is unique to this town, just as chicken rice balls are unique to Melaka; you cannot even find copycat attempts of Bukit Mertajam crab noodles elsewhere.
No one knows how many crabs the hawkers use to boil their thick broth, but the crab flavour of the broth is so intense that if you love crab, you have to try it.
A check with locals showed that many Bukit Mertajam folk are proud that their “BM boy is finally PM”, and almost everyone interviewed professed knowledge of Anwar loving the town’s crab noodles.
But the same joyful pride might not be shared by the constituency next door: Permatang Pauh, which Anwar and his family no longer represent in Parliament for the first time in 40 years.
While Anwar has not had time to return to his hometown here more than once or twice a year for brief visits, many locals know he has to get a dose of crab noodles when he does stop by.
“He used to eat at our stall long ago. But after he became famous, he drew a big commotion every time he came, so after that, he only asked us to deliver packs of it to his old house,” a crab noodle seller here who only wanted to be known as Suhaimi told Sin Chew Daily when interviewed recently.
Suhaimi’s shop was closed yesterday. All crab noodle stalls in Bukit Mertajam close on Fridays to make time for prayers.
Another proud BM boy is Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim.
“The Chinese here have a saying. We will have a CM (chief minister) and a PM from BM. Now, we really have both,” he said.
The CM that Sim meant was the late Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee from MCA, who was the first chief minister of Penang (1957 to 1969).
When Sim was a secondary schoolboy in the mid-1990s, he volunteered as a member of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society to stand by at one of Anwar’s Hari Raya Puasa open houses.
“I watched him greet everyone from afar. He was cool and awesome. My perception of him when I was a schoolboy was that he was a national leader who was very much a ‘BM boy’ whenever he was home,” he said.
Over in Permatang Pauh, a constituency separated from Bukit Mertajam by an invisible line and which is just a few kilometres from Anwar’s ancestral home, the mood of some voters seems to be one of consternation.
“Anwar, his wife and his daughter have represented us for 40 years. Now that he is finally the PM, Permatang Pauh is under Perikatan Nasional. What lah?” said Salleh Yunus, 50, an ehailing driver.
Equally feeling incongruity is contractor Rais Wahab, 30, a self-declared Barisan Nasional supporter.
“We were campaigning against Nurul Izzah for Barisan, but we didn’t expect Perikatan to win,” he admitted.
In his first venture into politics, Anwar wrested the Permatang Pauh seat in 1982 from PAS with a 74.88% majority.
He continued to hold on to the seat time and again with large majorities, even trouncing the likes of Mohamad Sabu (1986) and Datuk Mahfuz Omar (1990), who are now Amanah leaders but were then from PAS.
After Anwar, 75, was first jailed in 1998, his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, 69, defended his seat for him and kept it.
His daughter, Nurul Izzah, 42, took over in 2018 and won it too.
But she lost in GE15 to Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan, 39, an Islamic preacher representing Perikatan.
Of the 87,488 votes accepted, Nurul Izzah’s 32,366 votes could not beat Muhammad Fawwaz’s 37,638, while two more candidates from Barisan and Pejuang collected the rest.
But Rais holds the faith that Anwar will not forget Permatang Pauh.
“Barisan and Pakatan are in a unity government now. Everything about our lives has changed, so why not change politically as well? We are learning to change. We can,” he said.
None, however, might be happier than Anwar’s older brother, Cikgu Idrus Ibrahim, 80, who still lives in their hometown and leads a normal kampung life.
“Itu sifat dia (That is his character). He is willing to meet a challenge. His conviction for what he believes in is so strong.
“He is brave and never gives up on what he believes in,” he said in a phone interview.
And yes, Idrus said there were times when he would pack crab noodles and drive them to Kuala Lumpur for Anwar to get his dose of it.
“He told me on the phone after becoming PM that he would find the first opportunity he could to come home,” he said.
“I am waiting for him to come home.”
