KNOWN as a navy town and the gateway to Pangkor Island, the Lumut federal constituency was a Barisan Nasional stronghold until PKR wrested it in 2013.

Retired navy admiral Mohamad Imran Abdul Hamid polled 8,168 votes more than three-term Lumut MP Kong Cho Ha, who was also the transport minister and MCA secretary-general, to win the seat in the 13th general election.

It was a strategic move for PKR to field an ex-navy man, which helped the party gain nearly 1,200 more votes from the navy electorate at the parliamentary level, lham Centre director Hisommudin Bakar told The Malaysian Insight.

The electoral trends researcher said opposition pact Pakatan Harapan could lose that edge in the 14th general election, unless it fielded Imran again.

“I’m ready to contest. I’ve served the people diligently for the past five years. They know me,” Imran said at his office in Seri Manjung.

There is less certainty on the civilian front in Lumut, where the locals largely depend on the marine industry for employment. The closure of large companies like Sapura Kencana have left at least 3,000 jobless.

Noor Mohamad Arif, 30, is one of the unemployed, who now sells iced tea by the roadside in Seri Manjung for a living.

With a household income of less than RM4,000 and an eight-month-old baby to care for, the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia human resource graduate said he still hoped to land an office job even though that meant working longer hours.

“I used to be a loyal BN supporter,” said Mohamad, but added that the excesses of its leaders had disappointed him. 

To reduce expenses, he compares prices and shops at different stores to get the cheapest groceries and essential items.

“We can’t afford to shop at large hypermarket chains like Tesco or Aeon,” said the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) recipient.

These are grouses that Lumut MP Imran, as well as Amanah Lumut deputy chief Yahaya Mat Nor are familiar and empathise with.

The two blame the rising cost of living on the goods and services tax (GST) and the lack of job opportunities for young people.

Imran said the federal and state governments should focus on reviving Lumut’s marine industry to provide jobs instead of proposing development projects that did not benefit locals.

Food sellers in Sitiawan town told The Malaysian Insight that business is down up to 40% due to the GST. They said they made do with earning less as they are afraid business would drop even further should they raise their prices as locals are already eating out less.

An ice-cream seller in Teluk Batik for more than 16 years, who wished to be known as Puan Pechiata, said her three married children worked outside Lumut.

The former bus driver, who had started selling ice-cream at the beach during weekends for side income, said business was slow compared with a decade ago.

“Now it is only packed here during Chinese New Year. All the toilets and roads will be full of people,” she said. 

Pak Usup, a boat and water ski operator in Teluk Batik, estimated that his business has declined by a third since the GST was introduced as people cut unnecessary expenses.

Hisommudin said the battle between BN and PH in Lumut would be for the fence-sitters among Malay and Indian voters, as the Chinese remained firmly pro opposition.

On-the-ground surveys found loss of jobs and rising living costs to be the chief complaints of Malay and Indian voters, he said.

The findings also revealed that while the local Chinese are not as hostile towards MCA as in previous elections, they remained disenchanted with local party leaders whom they said were only to be seen during election time.

Uncertainty

Despite PKR having broken BN’s hold on Lumut with Imran, as a result of negotiations between the component parties, PH has allocated the seat to Amanah, a young PAS splinter party whose influence is limited to Pasir Panjang.

Lumut’s three state seats are Sitiawan (PKR), Pasir Panjang (BN-Umno) and Pangkor (BN-Umno).

Yahaya, the Amanah Lumut deputy chief affectionately known as Cikgu Ya to the locals, remained tight-lipped on who the party would field in Lumut. Yahaya himself is expected to stand in Pasir Panjang.

On BN’s side, MCA is likely to field its Perak Youth chief Ting Tai Fook in Lumut. Ting contested and lost Sitiawan to DAP’s Ngeh Koo Ham in 2013.

Hisommudin said Pasir Panjang will see a close three-cornered fight among Amanah, PAS and Umno. Umno beat PAS to seize back Pasir Panjang by a slim margin of 304 votes in 2013.

Pasir Panjang was won by former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin in 2008.

DAP should retain Sitiawan, while Pangkor, currently held by Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Nadir, is likely to stay in BN’s grip, said Hisommudin.

He said although PKR won more civilian votes in Pangkor in 2013, it lost the state seat to BN as more than three quarters of the nearly 10,000 navy voters voted for Zambry to hand him victory by 5,124 votes.

The Election Commission’s re-delineation proposal, which would take the Sitiawan state seat out of Lumut, could prove another spanner in the works for PH.

The re-delineation would turn Lumut from a mixed seat to a super Malay-majority seat. Sitiawan would be transferred to Beruas, a federal seat DAP won in 2008 and was likely to retain in the next polls.

If the EC’s proposal is passed in the Dewan Rakyat in a sitting next month, PH may lose the seat.

“Without Sitiawan, it is quite difficult for PH to win Lumut,” Hisommudin said. – February 12, 2018.