SEPARATED by a 638m drawbridge, residents of Kuala Nerus can only look with envy at the development taking place across the Terengganu river in the state capital.

For this population of 220,000, the overflow of development from Kuala Terengganu is not being felt in Kuala Nerus.

Loud rumblings are beginning to be heard from among residents of Kuala Nerus, especially since most are affected economically by the Covid-19 pandemic.

They told The Malaysian Insight they can see the rapid development in the city centre, especially after the RM248 million bridge was completed under the Barisan Nasional administration in 2019, but none of it is felt in Kuala Nerus.

They are now looking ahead to the next general election, expressing disappointment with the PAS-led government who they alleged have almost ignored them.

A resident who only wanted to be known as Faisal said Kuala Nerus badly needs development to boost the economy and revive the tourism sector.

Furthermore, traders have been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, said the 32-year-old Faisal, who lives in Seberang Takir.

“The only benefit is that you can go to the city now within a few minutes using the new bridge. But that’s about it,” Faisal said.

“It was the same when they wanted to build the Sultan Mahmud Airport. It was said that residents would benefit, but that did not happen either.

“The development is too slow,” the trader said.

Another resident, Alias Ismail, also expressed disappointment because the PAS-led state government was said to have given less assistance to the residents.

Alias, 56, who lives in Seberang Takir, said the disappointment was felt by the majority of the people in the area.

In fact, Alias said they have not received much help from PAS Kuala Nerus MP Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.

“Umno offered a lot more when they were in power. Now the state government is not giving much. Nothing much can be said about our MP,” Alias said.

“We don’t see anything (from him). There is nothing here. He is a deputy minister with extra allocation, but there is nothing.”

He added that what was even more surprising was when residents were asked to donate to build a parking space at the new Seberang Takir mosque.

“When there is a mosque, there needs to be a parking space but until today, there is no space for cars when the mosque is already in use.

“Instead (we have to) ask for donations from the people for parking. The state government should allocate the money but the announcement was made in the mosque.

“It’s weird because to create parking space, you need big funds. Why not use the state government’s allocation,” Alias said.

He also believes that PAS’ victory in the seat in the 2018 general election was only due to the boycott votes from Umno supporters.

“There are many reasons why PAS won the seat. Among them are national issues. At that time people were angry with Najib Razak on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad issue.

“In Terengganu, the people were also angry with former menteri besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman who chose his own cronies to be candidates.

“Many were eligible. So it was Umno themselves who boycotted their own people,” he said when met in the district.

The Kuala Nerus parliamentary seat covers four state constituencies – Bukit Tunggal, Tepuh, Teluk Pasu and Seberang Takir.

The majority of the residents work as fishermen who sell seafood, civil servants as well as professionals in the industrial town of Gong Badak and at local universities near the town.

The universities are Sultan Zainal Abidin University, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Universiti Terbuka Malaysia and Petronas Institute of Technology.

In addition, several army camps also contribute to the large number of civil servants in the district.

In GE14, PAS retained the Kuala Nerus parliamentary seat and all constituencies except Seberang Takir, which is still the stronghold of Umno’s Razif.

Khairuddin retained Kuala Nerus with a margin of 8,447 votes, defeating a BN candidate. In 2013, he won the seat with only 610 votes.

In Seberang Takir, Razif retained the seat with a slim majority of 1,884 votes after recording a similar result in GE13.

Kuala Nerus Umno division chief Apli Yusoff said the party is now learning from past mistakes in trying to recapture the parliamentary and three state constituencies in the area.

He said Umno lost in GE14 because it was plagued with internal issues at the federal and state levels, as well as national issues.

“At that time (the federal government) had issues, the state also had issues, candidates also had issues of acceptance by the party’s grassroots,” Apli said.

“And that is why we are now working towards reducing our internal problems. We are looking for candidates who can be accepted from the bottom level onwards.”

He gave an example of the list of Umno candidates for the 15th general election who were selected without the views of the grassroots to ensure that the candidate is accepted by all.

“Usually we start with a committee that proposes a name and then get feedback from the grassroots level.

“Currently, 60% of us have met the division head and asked which candidate they prefer,” said Apli, who had defeated Razif in the last party elections.

Asked whether Umno is confident in winning all the seats, Apli said the people can judge Umno during its four-year tenure as state government.

“The state of Terengganu is rich. We have Petronas money but we do not manage it properly. What has been done in the past four years? Nothing.

“The drawbridge, the Seberang Takir mosque were all (built) during the BN era,” he said.

PAS confident of winning Seberang Takir

PAS’ Kuala Nerus state constituency coordinator Mohd Fazil is confident the party can penetrate the Umno stronghold of Seberang Takir because it controls the state government and is now part of the Perikatan Nasional government.

“In the past, we lost, but now we are in the federal government. We have that strength,” said Mohd, a former Seberang Takir candidate in the last election.

Asked on PAS’ failure to penetrate the Seberang Takir constituency, he said the area was an Umno stronghold led by the menteri besar and also because of postal votes.

He said the constituency has about 3,000 people from the military camp and from the General Operations Force, which is one of the factors that PAS failed to penetrate.

“In the 1999 election we won by 500 votes, but when there were postal votes, we lost by 1,500 votes.

“But we were not part of the government. Now we are in Muafakat Nasional and PN, so our chances are bright,” he said.

On the frustrations of the residents, Mohd said the allegations were not true because PAS was very active in providing assistance to the people.

The assistance was given especially to the people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but there may be cases where people did not receive the aid.

“PAS is very concerned about welfare. And we have an allocation.

“In Seberang Takir, the BN assemblyman has been given an allocation but PAS has also been providing assistance,” he said. – May 6, 2021.