The Malaysian Insight is featuring a series of marginal parliamentary seats as the nation heads towards the 14th general election. Today,  we look at Setiawangsa to find out whether an MP’s personal appeal can overcome rising anger over inflation and 1MDB.

MALATHI Chinnathambi lost her husband last year. The widow knows she would be hard pressed to feed the children today if not for Setiawangsa MP Ahmad Fauzi Zahari.

Fauzi helped the 46-year-old to start a small cake business to make up for the lost income of her husband. The MP also orders Malathi’s cakes for his events.

Barisan Nasional (BN) hopes that Fauzi’s winning personality will provide the edge in the 14th general election as it seeks to defend one of only two seats it holds holds in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Setiawangsa bucked the trend in the 2013 general election, when politically aware voters in urban seats from Kota Baru to Alor Star to Kuching booted out BN in favour of Pakatan Rakyat components DAP, PKR, and PAS.

Setiawangsa and neighbouring Titiwangsa were two seats out of 11 in the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur that BN managed to hold on to with a slim majority of 1,390 and 866 votes, respectively.

In Setiawangsa especially, observers claimed that it was votes from the sprawling Defence Ministry army camp in Jalan Jelatek that helped the ruling coalition to win.

Fauzi said voters in the army base made up 20% of the vote in Setiawangsa. Pakatan Harapan activists said they did not have access to data on how much of their support the opposition received.

This time, Pakatan Harapan is betting that cost of living issues and the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal will shift voter support its way in all sections of the Setiawangsa populace – including the military.

“We are confident because going by the trend in the elections from 2004 to 2013, there is increasing support for the ppposition and PKR,” said PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is tipped to carry the PH banner in Setiawangsa in the next polls.

“Today’s economic issues will heighten their wish for change,” said Nik Nazmi.

“Previously, if much of our support came from the Chinese, Indians, and working class Malays, now the middle-class Malays are showing us support.”

Undoing a legacy

In the 2004 general election, BN’s Zulhasnan Rafique defeated PAS’ Abdul Rashid Hassan Basri with a comfortable majority of 19,669 votes.

But in the next election in 2008, BN’s winning majority dropped ut by more than half to 8,134 votes. 

In the election after that in 2013, BN’s winning majority again drastically slimmed down, now to 1,390 votes, which won the seat for Fauzi, who replaced Zulhasnan as the BN candidate.

In 2013, there were 62,390 voters in Setiawangsa – 56% Malay, 30% Chinese and 11% Indian. BN’s Fauzi declined to reveal the number of voters from the army camp while Nik Nazmi’s office does not have the data. It is believed they number in the low thousands.

Setiawangsa’s working class voters live in low-cost flats on the east side of Jalan Setiawangsa and in Sri Rampai.

Its middle and upper class residents occupy terrace houses and bungalows on the slopes of Bukit Dinding, where Fairview International school is located.

Inflation, which many blame on the goods and services tax (GST), is acutely felt by the working class who also have to contend with high rent and food prices.

Pisang goreng seller Fauziah Abu Bakar has applied for and failed to secure a low cost unit in the People’s Housing Project (PPR) from City Hall.

After her request to then MP Zulhasnan for a letter of support to accompany her application fell on deaf ears, she decided to withhold her vote in GE13. She also persuaded her ex-army husband and six of their children to abstain.

“I’m sick of voting. I am disappointed. There is not point in voting. My husband was part of the government but he didn’t get anything out of it,” said Fauziah who is paying RM700 a month to rent a two-bedroom terrace house.

Complaints about Zulhasnan were echoed by residents whom The Malaysian Insight interviewed, but his successor Fauzi has done much to repair BN’s reputation in the constituency.

Single mother Saridah Mohd Jailani praised Fauzi for being more accessible .

“There was no red tape when it came to getting his help. He always visits PPR residents at the end of the year before school starts and helps us out. The minimum he gives is RM500 per family,” said the 49-year-old.

Newspaper vendor Yap Keen Liong agreed Fauzi was more helpful than Zulhasnan.

“If you need help you can go to his office. There is no protocol and he is a good listener,” said the 50-year-old.

KL vs Selangor

Fauzi admits that national issues such as 1MBD and allegations of kleptocracy in the Najib administration will be a challenge for BN. But he hopes that voters will pay more attention to his hard work.

“If you talk about kleptocracy here, people will ask, will prices come down? Can you buy a house?,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“I deal with day-today issues – the people’s schoolgoing children, their illnesses,” said the Setiawangsa Umno division vice chief.

“Do they have food at home? Do their children have food? Are the roads going to be jammed? Those who come to this office, they are thinking of these basic things.”

His office is packed with files on his various activities in every section of the area since he was elected in 2013.

Although Fauzi’s hard work does get noticed, some constituents have compared his service unfavourably with that of the Selangor government just next door.

Rahim has been trying to get a licence for his sister’s laksa stall, but City Hall has turned him down.

“Fauzi told me to go to him if there was a problem, so I did. But all he said was, oh we can’t do business here’.

“It’s not like in Selangor. In Selangor, if they tell you you cannot open a stall here, they will tell you where you can open the stall instead. They don’t just refuse you.”

Rahim said the high cost of living has forced residents to open small stalls along the major roads in Setiawangsa to earn extra income.

PH activists hope that comparisons like this will help Nik Nazmi, who is a Selangor exco and a part of the Pakatan Rakyat state government.

“Nik Nazmi’s background as Selangor government exco is helping him. People know his face around here because they are politically aware,” said a PH activist who declined to be identified.

“We get lots of complaints about the GST and high living costs whenever we hold programmes and open voter registration counters in the pasar malam,” said the activist.

But PH faces the big hurdle of getting its message across to the army camp, to which its access is restricted.

Fauzi said he held regular meetings with the army families in the base.

The PH activist said the opposition printed pamphlets on issues such as late pensions from the Armed Forces Fund Board to be distributed in the camp.
 
“We get the help of ex-service members to distribute these pamphlets because we can’t go in. So far their response has been positive. A big issue there is petrol prices.”

He said although the military vote could well decide the winner, the PH strategy was to get as many non-military votes as possible.

“If we can increase our popularity with normal voters, then their numbers will make up for the votes from the camp.” – December 2, 2017.