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SEGAMAT – Dedicated representatives, economic elevation, and more rewarding job opportunities have been earmarked as the main demands of voters in the Tenang constituency.
Situated within the small town of Labis here, the Tenang constituency was until recently known among locals as a station town, where travellers heading north towards the east coast would stop by for essentials before continuing their journey.
As the years passed, development seemed to slow within the rustic town, with voters here desperate for economic development and infrastructural upgrades that would raise the standard of living here.
‘Yoo hoo! Where are you?’
Speaking to The Vibes, 64-year-old food stall owner Normah Wandi lamented how structural upgrades for her wooden shop and those in the same row had been promised for years, without the state government ever coming through with its word.
She said promises to upgrade the row of shops from wooden structures to concrete buildings have been scripted responses, and pledges by past and current representatives have not brought with them any solution.
Normah, who has been running her business for the past 11 years, said such issues could be solved if the elected representatives were actually around to hear the grouses of the people.
“All we are asking for is a leader who can commit to us and is there when we are in need, not them just showing face to us once every five years, asking for our votes, and then disappearing.
My shop’s roof has started leaking and I am unsure if I should fix it, because what (will) happen once I spend the money and then the government decides to step in and build a new structure here?” she asked.
As a business owner, Normah also complained about the increasing price of essential goods and ingredients needed in her shop, saying she had no choice but to pass on the extra burden to her customers.
“If we have many customers every day, it would be manageable, but since the pandemic, the number of customers has also dwindled, so it’s in times like this that these representatives must make an appearance to try to ease our burdens,” she said.
Agreeing with Normah was a vegetarian restaurant owner in his 50s who wished to be identified only as Lau.
He pointed out that it was the norm for voters in the area to hardly ever have the chance to meet their elected representatives.
The situation, Lau said, has reached the stage where most people here do not even recognise the face of their assemblyman or MP.
To be honest, I cannot remember who I voted for the last time, but to me, it does not make a big difference, because the representative is hardly around.
“We see these candidates coming to stop by, handing out their flyers, asking to support and vote for them, but after that, you won’t see them around here anymore,” he said.
Lau, who recently moved his roadside business into a brick-and-mortar shop lot, hoped that whoever gets elected into power this time around will spend time in their own constituency.
“We do not ask for much, just for a representative who is around to assist the people when in need and will not just disappear,” he said.
High time for tertiary education institutions in Tenang?
New voter Ng, a 19-year-old school leaver, said she hopes to see a university or institute of higher education opening in Tenang, which would allow local youth to remain here and still pursue their tertiary education.
Speaking while assisting at her family’s sundry shop, Ng said she lost contact with many of her school friends after they left Johor to pursue their tertiary education elsewhere.
“I decided to stay here and help out with my family’s business, because even the closest university here is up north in Segamat, and I prefer not to live too far from my family,” she said.
Former Education Ministry staffer Abdul Razak Harun, 60, agreed with Ng, saying the Ministry of Higher Education could consider opening a public university in the area to elevate local youth.
He said the introduction of such institutions could cause a snowball effect that might attract more investors into the area, which then creates more jobs.
“Then, it becomes the government’s responsibility to study and find out which industry would be best suited to enter this area and its locality,” he said.
Youth candidates: the right choice?
When asked his opinion on youth running as candidates for state seats, Razak said the age of the person is irrelevant, and stressed they must ensure that they are up to the task of handling the entire constituency.
He agreed that younger candidates could, in general, be more energetic than older politicians, but warned that their naivete could see them being played by older warlords.
“The youth want to run for elections, but some of them, I see, are barely fluent in the nuances of how politics is run.
Yes, they might be more energetic to run around the place, but if they are naïve and impressionable, they could end up being used as a tool by other selfish politicians,” he said.
Razak, a resident of Tenang for his entire life, conceded that older and more experienced politicians also have a role to play in educating and showing the ropes of the game to these younger hopefuls.
On the flipside, he also agreed that youth candidates should not be overzealous in trying to rise up the political ladder too quickly, but must instead focus on mastering the trade before trying to lead.
Businessman Omar Talib, 57, was on the same page, saying younger politicians should be patient and take things one step at a time before trying to become leaders.
“Some of them might be fluent and understand the political agendas of other figures, but politics also requires experience,” he said.
Tenang is set to see a four-cornered fight among Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional, and newcomer Muda.
Johor will go to the polls on March 12 to elect representatives for 56 state seats, with more than 2.59 million eligible voters in the state. – The Vibes, March 2, 2022
