ONE of the big fights in GE14 the Malaysian Chinese community is closely watching is the battle for Teluk Intan, where the Barisan Nasional candidate from the local elite will take on a rough and tough-talking working class favourite from DAP.

Born into a wealthy Teluk Intan family, the soft-spoken incumbent and Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong is close to elites in the semi-urban seat.

His main opponent will be Pakatan Harapan’s Nga Kor Ming, the former Taiping MP and Perak DAP chief, who is highly popular with wage-earning Chinese in the state.

It didn’t go down well with the working class when some Chinese community leaders used clan names and business associations to back Mah.

“Did they ask the committees and members’ permission before doing so?” asked a 66-year-old voter, Tan Tian Fatt.

Although Mah has an excellent local service record, locals have questioned his silence on the corruption scandals plaguing BN as their MP.

A 72-year-old retiree, Yew Yin Xin, said Mah had failed to stand up to Umno’s excesses.

A contractor named Suba, 62, and a retired estate worker Krishnan, 59, criticised Mah for failing to take Najib to task on 1MDB.

“He hides here, providing services, but keeps quiet on national issues,” they said.

Talking about BN’s excesses and scandals is where PH’s Nga, a fiery orator, shines.

Some of his rhetoric, although enjoyed by the Chinese crowd, have been misunderstood, such as a recent joke about PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the late former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Nga implied that Dr Mahathir, 92, was old and near death, but first had to help PH take over Putrajaya before he could “play mahjong” with Lee.

Voters in Teluk Intan, a mixed seat, have historically gone with national sentiment when voting for their federal legislator in national elections.

From 1986 to 2004, they voted for BN. In 2008 and 2013, they voted for the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.

PH is likely to prevail in Teluk Intan if trends persist and voter turnout reaches between 70% and 80%, as in the past two elections.

Nga, however, said he would only be confident of victory if voter turnout was 85% tomorrow.

Both Mah and Nga have both told the media they are the underdog in Teluk Intan this election.

PAS is also contesting, but its candidate, Dr Ahmad Ramadzan, is unlikely to pose a serious challenge to BN or PH. – May 8, 2018.