WITH the campaigning period nearing its halfway point, things at the Kemaman parliamentary by-election appear to be lukewarm at best. 

The lack of campaign posters and party flags are the most noticeable signs that the campaigning atmosphere is almost non-existent and Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor appears to dominate. 

The series of political talks organised by both contesting parties, BN and PAS, have so far been small-scale and aired live, and the turnout has been dismal, with some talks having only a handful of people attending. 

The candidates have been using different approaches, with Raja packing his daily schedule with programmes from sunrise till late at night, while PAS candidate Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar seemed to dedicate his time to his Terengganu menteri besar duties and has been spotted managing flood evacuees in other districts in the state in the first seven days of campaigning. 

Perdana Centre of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy lecturer Mazlan Ali said the different campaign approaches were likely due to PAS’ confidence after having scored significant victories in the last general election (GE15) and the recent state elections.  

“GE15 witnessed PAS winning every parliamentary seat in Terengganu, even in Kemaman, which was once a BN stronghold; they won with a majority of over 27,000 majority. Then there’s their clean sweep of 32 state seats during the recent state elections. 

“So, this has made PAS confident. Looking at the trend of reception received in Terengganu, maybe PAS feels they don’t need to campaign much. The state’s menteri besar is the candidate, that makes them even more sure that they’ll win,” he told Bernama. 

Statements made by PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad during recent political talks seem to support such opinions, as he joked that even if a mineral water bottle was made a candidate for the party, it would manage to win and that they could win with a larger majority of 30,000. 

In terms of campaign issues, PAS has been harping on the different allocations given to opposition MPs, their efforts to topple the central government as soon as possible, and propelling Ahmad to a higher position if he is elected as MP, while BN has been talking about the need for a “full-time” MP, and countering PAS’ accusations that the federal government was guiding Malaysia towards secularism. 

Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Mara’s Institution of Malay Rulers Chair Fellow, Mujibu Abd Muis expects that campaigning will turn more aggressive in the last half of the campaigning period. 

“Obviously, after identifying safe, battleground and hostile areas, then they can plan what they can do,” he said, adding that it was possible that online campaigning would become the main option of campaigning during the monsoon period and candidates might call off or pause their political campaigns for search-and-rescue efforts or disaster management. 

“Face-to-face campaigning will still happen, but not on a large scale, but in a personal manner,” Mujibu said. 

Kemaman Umno division media chairman Wan Abdul Hakim Wan Mokhtar shared that the first phase of campaigning for BN was on the right track and had proceeded as planned. 

“Our plans went well as we wanted, and the response was good. For instance, when we nominated Raja Mohamed Affandi, it’s a game changer because suddenly the menteri besar has to contest. This is something that is very interesting to us,” he said. – Bernama, November 25, 2023.