Jitters all round in Johor

Umno pressed the panic button just days into the campaign but every single party is facing pressure in an election where voters seem to have made up their minds.

THREE years out in the cold has not dimmed Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s star power.

His suspension by Umno is over and the former minister was on the campaign trail in Paloh and Kahang, the two state seats in his Sembrong parliament constituency.

It was like a hero coming home when he arrived in Paloh on Friday evening, with his MCA friends greeting him amid lion dancers and the sound of cymbals.

The Sembrong set-up has often been described as a reflection of the Barisan Nasional family, with Umno in Sembrong, MCA in Paloh and MIC in Kahang.

There has been pressure from Umno to contest these seats but the Umno leadership has refused to budge.

Hishammuddin, who enjoys superstar status in these parts, is there to lock in the votes. Paloh fell in the 2018 general election but MCA’s Lee Ting Han, a Cambridge University graduate, won back the seat in 2022 with a huge majority.

Lee, who began his political career as an aide to MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, was somewhat of a novice when he contested the 2022 polls but his stint as a state executive councillor has honed his people skills.

“He’s a genuinely nice guy and there’s been a big change in his people skills - carrying babies, chatting away with those selling kuih and even gossiping with the makcik in their homes,” said Hishammuddin’s political aide, Yaqin Khan, who has known Lee for years.

Barisan leaders pressed the panic button just days into the state election campaign following reports that the ruling coalition could only win 35 of the 56 seats.

It was a timely wake-up call because Umno was over-confident about winning big although some thought Umno was using reverse psychology to spook the Malays into coming out in great numbers to vote.

Posters and billboards have gone up but a Johor Bahru-based journalist said he was not feeling the election mood.

However, social media has been on fire and Johor could be the first state to be blasted by online campaigning. It has turned election-watching for voters into an experience of being in many places at the same time.

Social media is also full of smoke signals of what might lie ahead such as the absence of people declaring that they are planning to take leave from work or make travel plans to return to vote. Is that an indication of a low voter turnout?

“People were tired by the time the state assembly was dissolved. There is the sense that many Johoreans more or less know what they want, especially after nomination day,” said political commentator Khaw Veon Szu.

Bersama, the party that Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli launched with such great hope, seems overwhelmed by the enormity of a state election.

It is evident that Bersama candidates have never stood on a campaign stage and they are too raw to be presented as YB material.

“Bersama is arguably the most exciting thing in politics today. Rafizi has reinvented the way a political party is run or how candidates are selected. There are hiccups but such ideas are what democracy is built on.

Rafizi is a groundbreaker and Bersama is reminiscent of his Ayuh Malaysia campaign that saw him travel the country to speak on top of a lorry. His efforts inspired a song about him that is still playing on YouTube.

“Johor is a test of fire that Bersama is going through,” said Khaw.

Another unusual thing about the Johor polls is the critical commentary directed at Pakatan Harapan, something unimaginable three or four years ago.

The days when Pakatan leaders could part the waters like the Red Sea to walk through are over.

And quite unfortunate for DAP, much of it is directed at its Johor chairman Teo Nie Ching.

Teo, who is Kulai MP and Deputy Communications Minister, has not lost her fire but broken promises over the UEC or Unified Examination Certificate and her past singing antics, have damaged her.

Some call it the curse of being in government where one has to defend unpopular policies whereas the opposition could just shoot from the hip.

“If you were having dinner with 10 Chinese friends a few years ago, nine people at the table would be rooting for DAP. It’s not like that anymore,” said a Chinese lawyer.

Umno had a wake-up call but Pakatan could be in crisis mode.

There are not many compelling issues for Pakatan to ride on while inconvenient surprises keep turning up at every corner.

News that former Malaysian Anti-Corruption chief Tan Sri Azam Baki was still sitting as advisor to the National Financial Crime Centre stirred fresh ripples.

Former Skudai assemblyman Marina Ibrahim has also become a thorn for DAP. She is getting more coverage in the Chinese media than many of the DAP candidates.

Her Facebook essay, calling out the hypocrisy of DAP over the Bossku issue, is a hot issue in the Chinese press.

Marina was apparently fed up with DAP politicians claiming that they would resign if Datuk Seri Najib Razak was allowed house arrest. She claimed that some party leaders were actually receptive to it.

The Chinese fear of and dislike for PAS could cost Perikatan Nasional seats.

At the same time, the anti-DAP mood among Malays could wipe out Amanah and PKR.

“The Chinese dislike for PAS and fear of the green wave has reached a point where it is equally matched by the anti-DAP mood among Malays,” said an aide to a Johor Umno leader.

The Johor election is taking place at a time when a deep line of separation is forming between Malay and Chinese sentiments and its effects could have far-reaching implications.