LANGKAWI – Outsourcing work to inefficient officials and the lack of attention to their respective constituencies were among the reasons why big names such as Nurul Izzah Anwar, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah fell in the 15th general election.
Party officials cited that these big names were relatively absent for a significant stretch in the past four years due to a variety of reasons.
The obvious reasons were the Sheraton Move and the lockdowns brought on by the pandemic, where they went on enforced leave from their constituencies. But unlike other elected representatives, their absence was quite evident.
Penang PKR officials reasoned that Nurul Izzah had also undergone a sabbatical in 2020 where besides the lockdown, she was taking time to reflect on her career after the Sheraton Move brought down the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government.
“Nurul Izzah was away for a while, but she did appoint some people including elected representatives to watch over the constituency. However, it became apparent that those appointed struggled with their tasks,” they said when interviewed.
The timing of Nurul Izzah’s absence also coincided with one of the biggest challenges when Covid-19 struck – causing much unrest in terms of public healthcare, mortality rates, jobs, and the need to disburse aid effectively and efficiently.
“Although Nurul Izzah came later to assist, her absence earlier had caused a whisper to emerge among some quarters that her constituents need an attentive MP.”
Nurul Izzah also suffered as three assemblymen under her constituency were also distracted with their own challenges. Seberang Jaya assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin defected to Perikatan Nasional (PN), Penanti’s Norlela Ariffin was caught up in her duties as a PKR state executive councillor, while Permatang Pasir’s Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, the son of former PAS president Datuk Fadzil Muhammad Noor, was battling a court case.
The PKR vice-president’s misfortunes were seized upon by PAS, who campaigned aggressively to post one of the biggest upsets in Malaysian electoral history when its state youth chief Muhammad Fawwaz Mat Jan defeated Nurul Izzah with a majority of 5,272.
Another factor was that youths in the Malay-dominant seats supported PN in Penang rather than the PH or Barisan Nasional (BN) coalitions.
“We will need to do a serious post-mortem on Nurul Izzah’s loss. It is definitely a blow to the reform movement,” said state PKR vice-chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain.
Politically, the constituency is the ancestral home of PKR and its founder Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said Halim, who added that the party needs to rebound fast to face the challenges ahead.
The same dilemma was what Dr Mahathir encountered. He had outsourced the task of attending to the grievances of his then Langkawi constituents after he endured some health issues, as well as during the pandemic.
Ater two spells of lengthy hospitalisation, Dr Mahathir emerged to declare that he would defend his seat under his new party, Pejuang, under the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition.
His age of 97 was however cited as a major factor for his loss, although Dr Mahathir was dismissive of this, saying that age is just a number.
But after the two assemblymen under him – Kuah’s Mohd Firdaus Ahmad and Air Hangat’s Datuk Juhari Bulat – defected to PN and his service centre officials struggled, Dr Mahathir was perceived by the community as disconnected from the ground.
He was unable to settle outstanding socio-economic issues, especially tourism related ones, although he was the person behind the initial development of Langkawi, said local entrepreneur Mohd Suhaimi Ahmad.
A travel agent here confided that many voters will not vote for Dr Mahathir because he was just a lone voice in Parliament and lacked support to make any difference.
As for Tengku Razaleigh, also known as Ku Li, his quest to continue his status as Malaysia’s longest serving parliamentarian – having been one since 1974 – came to an unfortunate end as he lost in his stronghold of Gua Musang, the biggest constituency in Kelantan.
“Ku Li likely overstayed and at the age of 85, he has to realise that like Dr Mahathir, age is a barrier in politics as people worry about what senior citizens can deliver. This is why most countries have a set retirement age,” said a political observer in Kelantan.
The doctor said Ku Li campaigned with chivalry but modern politics is rough and menacing, so he paid the price for not conforming to generational changes taking place in the country. – The Vibes, November 20, 2022
