IN Pontian Kechil, Eileen Ng turned out with her friends to volunteer at a DAP-led ceramah less than a day after a video showing Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu disparaging the party.

“Only some of us saw the video but we know about it. But it hasn’t affected us,” said the 40-something resident of the town which lies on the edge of the Tg Piai parliamentary constituency.

Wearing the signature red Pakatan Harapan T-shirt, Ng and other Chinese volunteers put out chairs, set up speakers, hung flags and handed out flyers to the roughly 150 people who turned up to hear
speeches from DAP’s top brass.

Faizal’s video is the latest flare-up in the testy relations between Bersatu, PH’s Malay party and the Chinese-majority, multiracial DAP.

PH strategists worry that the constant bickering between the two parties over a variety of issues would further sap the spirit of DAP volunteers and affect overall Chinese support for the coalition in the by-election.

PH needs to maintain its 64% support level from Chinese voters who make up 42% of constituents, according to its strategists.

Other feud include Selangor DAP leader Ronnie Liu’s criticism of Bersatu president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Education Ministry’s policies on khat for vernacular pupils and PH Malay leaders
attendance at the Malay dignity congress.

The government’s foot-dragging over recognising the Unified Exam Certificate (UEC) for independent Chinese secondary schools has also upset the Chinese and put DAP supporters on the defensive.

But the DAP’s volunteers in Pontian Kechil last night, appear unfazed.

“We’ve been helping out the campaign since the start,” said another volunteer known as Tan, working the ground in Rambah, one of the 27 polling districts in the constituency.

In other parts of Tg Piai, DAP activists were initially slow to answer the call to arms because of their feud with Bersatu.

But as the official campaign period enter its mid-point, both DAP and Bersatu activists have put aside their differences to work for the coalition’s victory in the Tg Piai by-election.

“It was a slow start from them initially but now they are with us and in full swing,” said Mohamed Faisol Ali, who heads PH’s campaign in the Permas Kechil polling district.

“A few days ago, I called up the bosses saying I needed some DAP people to put up flags and immediately a pick-up truck came, gathered flags and went to put them up in Chinese areas.

“Now groups of them come here and some of us go off together to visit houses,” said Faisol.

Permas Kechil has 2,496 voters of whom 67% are Chinese involved in the fishing industry and aquaculture.

“Initially, we really did not feel like coming. But after meeting some of our senior leaders, we forced ourselves to come,” said a Tg Piai DAP activist who requested anonymity.

PH won the seat by a narrow margin of 524 votes through Bersatu candidate Dr Md Farid Md Rafiq, whose untimely death triggered the by-election.

Six candidates are contesting the parliamentary seat but the front-runners are Karmaine Sardini (PH) and Barisan Nasional’s Wee Jeck Seng.

A PH official in the coalition’s by-election base in Rambah said another reason for the cold ties between Bersatu and DAP is the fact that local members rarely work with each other until the by-election.

Although it won the Tg Piai seat in GE14, Bersatu has been slow to form branches, recruit new members and form stronger bonds with other parties in the constituency.

“Being former Umno members, Bersatu members here are not used to working with DAP, unlike the members in urban areas and other states,” said the official who has been training Bersatu’s Tg Piai machinery.

“But Bersatu people are learning fast and they are learning how to work with DAP and how to tackle the Chinese vote. Because they have realised that they need each other.

“Now they are going together with the DAP people into these villages to canvass for support together.” – November 10, 2019.