What’s happening in the rural heartland

While most of the political ‘noise’ is made by urban voters, the conversation among rural voters is very different.

“FOR us, banjir (flood) is normal. Flood or no flood, we will go out to vote,” a 40something man told me when I chatted with him at a nasi lemak stall in Jerantut town in Pahang.

The voter said the fearmongering of a massive flooding disaster by Opposition leaders does not reflect what is happening on the ground. He said it is unlikely that his polling station or house would be flooded on polling day for the 15th General Election (GE15).

On Friday, I embarked on “political tourism” in small towns like Jerantut to get out of my Klang Valley echo chamber and get a feel of politics in a seat in the Malay heartland. In Kuala Lumpur, the narrative among urban Opposition voters is that GE15 shouldn’t have been called because of the looming flood season.

I also wanted to get far away from the maddening noise of WhatsApp texts full of urban complaints (though I couldn’t escape them completely even in little Jerantut since I’m obliged to keep my phone on and check messages for work).

Jerantut is 231km, or a four-hour drive, from Subang Jaya, Selangor. The constituency, where 80% of the voters are Malay, has always been an Umno seat. In GE14 in 2018, Umno’s Datuk Ahmad Nazlan Idris won the seat with 22,640 votes with a 5,908 majority over PAS’ Yohanis Ahmad (16,732 votes) and a 11,763 majority over Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk Wan Mohd Shaharir Wan Abd Jalil (10,877) of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

“The fight for Jerantut is sengit (intense),” the voter told me while having his breakfast at Warung Intan Payung.

The rakyat, he said, has tasted three governments after GE14 – Pakatan Harapan under then Bersatu chairman Tun Dr Mahathir, which collapsed in February 2020; Perikatan Nasional under Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who quit as Prime Minister on Aug 21, 2021; and the “Malaysian Family” government under Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaa-kob, who dissolved Parliament on Oct 10 to make way for GE15.

“The fight for Jerantut will probably be between Umno, PAS and Pakatan. But the rakyat will judge these parties based on their performance running the government after GE14,” the Jerantut voter said.

“Who will win?” I asked.

“The party which has sejarah (history) of winning Jerantut,” he said.

“This time, we will vote wisely and not hastily vote. What have the two governments (Pakatan and Perikatan) done for us?”

About 17km from Jerantut is Kuala Tembiling, the gateway via boat to Taman Negara. At the tourist centre, eight people were practising beating the gendang (traditional Malay drum).

“The rakyat has been waiting for a long time for the election. The floods are normal for us. We’ll wait for polling,” a 50something man told me while he drummed.

The pakcik said a nearby school – Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Tembiling – is where he voted in 2018: “It won’t be flooded there. But if there is heavy rain, there will be flooding across the river. But the villagers can cross over by boat and vote here,” he said, pointing at the confluence of the Tembeling and Jelai rivers which connect to Sungai Pahang, the longest river in Peninsular Malaysia.

“What we want is a candidate who will serve us. We choose the candidate and not the party. The Jerantut MP has been quick in giving us Covid-19 and flood aid. It is all about service to the rakyat for us,” he said.

“We are friends regardless of whether we support Umno or PAS,” he added, indicating his friend wearing a kopiah (head cover usually worn by Muslim men), beating the gendang next to him.

What was unsaid was that on the ground, muafakat (Muslim/Malay consensus) exists in the community even though national leaders – like PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – are publicly fighting. For example, Abdul Hadi has said his party is delaying making cooperation with Umno official for GE15 because some of its leaders are “corrupt and greedy for power”.

I asked the drummer which party could win the Jerantut constituency: “Usually, it’s Umno for the Parliament seat. But for the Tahan state seat, PAS usually wins it,” he said, referring to where Kuala Tembeling is located.

I visited Jerantut in June 2020 when there was a by-election in the Chini state seat in the Pekan parliamentary constituency. On that trip, I sensed that Umno and PAS were the dominant forces. However, while PAS was on the rise, Umno, although still dominant, was on a decline. During my Friday visit, I got the sense that some voters have ubah balik (change back) to Umno.

Based on GE14 results, Umno and PAS are equally strong in the three state seats – Pulau Tawar, Tahan and Damak – in the parliamentary seat of Jerantut. Umno won Pulau Tawar while PAS got Tahan and Damak.

“If BN [Barisan Nasional] wins GE15, who will be PM?” the man asked me.

“What if it is Ahmad Zahid?” I asked in return.

Interestingly, he kept silent.

For most of the voters in Malay villages in Jerantut, their political considerations are local issues such as the service a candidate has provided or can provide – this, to them, is more important than who will be Prime Minister.

Their political conversation is also very different from the somewhat toxic nature of what I see in my WhatsApp groups, whose members are primarily urban voters. Some of the urban crowd do not know or understand the sentiments of a rural voter.

They forget that rural voters count too.