GEORGE TOWN: Several big guns of Pakatan Harapan (PH) have descended on Rantau in a last-minute push for votes for their candidate Dr S. Streram.
Leading the pack is Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who has made five trips to the otherwise sleepy hollow of Negri Sembilan.
Her husband and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has almost literally made Rantau his second home in the past week. He has been seen on the campaign trail at least four times. It cannot be denied that sending both the deputy prime minister and prime minister-in-waiting was meant to give the PH campaign a big boost.
Streram is Rembau PKR deputy chief.
Also on the ground to whip up support for Streram were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and the party’s Negri Sembilan chief Anthony Loke. Both visited the constituency over the weekend to join in the campaign trail.
There is speculation that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is also expected to make a whirlwind stop if he can squeeze some time out of his hectic schedule.
In contrast, Streram’s main rival in the race, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan of Barisan Nasional (BN), seems to have a totally different strategy to woo the voters.
Unlike Streram, Mohamad prefers what he describes as the “kampung boy approach”. He has his friends and relatives visit voters in the constituency and exchanging pleasantries with them.
Mohamad, a three-term incumbent and former mentri besar of Negri Sembilan is still considered the man to beat. His experience in politics easily overshadows that of newcomer Streram.
Despite the massive party machinery behind Streram, Penang-based political observer Rahmad Isahak still sees it as a David-versus-Goliath battle, with Streram being David.
He feels that PH would stand a better chance if it had fielded someone like PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.
“After all, Mohamad has home ground advantage but if PH continues to swarm the constituency with their top leaders, there is the possibility of an upset,“ he said.
Mohamad was born and raised in Rantau. He worked for Cycle and Carriage Bhd where he rose through the ranks to become managing director before he was convinced to join Umno. He contested and won the Rantau seat for the first time in 2004.
Streram has acknowledged that it would be an uphill battle to wrest the seat from Mohamad – the technocrat who has risen to become deputy president of Umno.
Despite losing the 14th general elections, Umno remains a formidable force. It has close to two million members, making it the largest political organisation in the country and its top leadership pack vast experience.
The significance of the Rantau by-election to Umno’s future cannot be more clearly stated than by its youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki. For him, it is a “do or die” battle.
Political scientist Dr Sivamurugan Pandian believes almost 70% of the voters have already made up their mind.
He said the focus of by-election campaigns were usually on localised issues but this time, it could be sidetracked by the Najib corruption trial, the Rome Statute and the resignation of Datuk Osman Sapian as mentri besar of Johor. “People are also disappointed with the low 1.25% hibah from Tabung Haji,“ he said.
Also in the race are independents R. Malarvizhi, who worked as a news presenter in Canada for 20 years, and former Islamic lecturer, Mohd Nor Yassin, but they are not expected to come close to being a threat to Streram or Mohamad.
