ELECTIONS come with theatrics. The recently concluded Nenggiri by-election is one such example.

After decades of waiting for an automated teller machine (ATM), the people of Nenggiri got one just two days before the polls. The machine in Kampung Jerek is expected to make life easier for more than 30,000 people.

For years, villagers had travelled 50km to Gua Musang or Dabong to withdraw money. A taxi ride cost them RM50. Sundry shops in the village, which double up as banking agents, impose a withdrawal limit of RM300 per person.

The Nenggiri by-election was called after the seat was declared vacant following the sacking of incumbent Mohd Azizi Abu Naim from Bersatu.

The Finance Ministry said it had helped the villagers gain access to ATM services.

What did the previous finance ministers do? Did they not realise that the people of Nenggiri were in dire need of ATM services? Suffice it to say, the assemblyman and MP had failed the residents.

That which was impossible for decades became possible 48 hours before the Nenggiri by-election.

Why do politicians break their promises of working for the people and the nation? Are elections the only time politicians will do something for the people?

Is the accumulation of wealth and power the only aim of politicians?

As former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on his blog four years ago, bribery enables the corrupt and the thieves to form a government. Was Dr Mahathir wrong?

What prevented Islamist party PAS, which has ruled Kelantan for mote 30 years, from providing the desperately needed ATM services?

Now that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan coalition partner, Umno, has won the Nenggiri by-election, will its elected representative work for the people, or will the voters be taken for granted until the polls?

Anwar must not underestimate the ire of voters, the power of which politician Maszlee Malik can vouch for. In 2022, the Simpang Renggam MP and his supporters were chased off by a disgruntled voter while they were campaigning.

In a viral video, an elderly man was seen yelling at Maszlee at the gates of a community hall in Kampung Isnin Maarof in Simpang Renggam, Johor Baru.

It is unknown why the man was livid with Maszlee. Another angry villager shooed Maszlee away.

But the Simpang Renggam candidate thought the villagers were wrong to have acted that way after all he had done to resolve the village’s water and garbage collection issues and bring McDonald’s to their neighbourhood.

Did Maszlee do the people a favour by resolving outstanding issues? Isn’t that what politicians are supposed to do?

Or does power create self-entitled politicians who feel that water, drainage, and garbage issues are beneath them? – August 20, 2024.