KELANTANESE Nik Hisyamuddin Fathi who earns a living in the Klang Valley was having a very tight schedule yesterday (Aug 11) as he was heading for Pasir Puteh after the Friday prayers.
Retired and concerned about his home state, Nik wanted to return to his home town just to feel the dynamism of Kelantan politics.
“Up to the eleventh hour, I was 110% sure that PAS will win the state election,” he told FocusM. “However, the situation is fluid and Kelantan may spring some surprises for the unity government.”
Two of Nik’s own relatives are standing in the state election – one an UMNO Wanita division chief and the other an independent who is strongly backing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Before speaking to FocusM, Nik had just met a sekolah pondok principal, Zulkarnain Harun, who will be contesting as an independent candidate in the Jelawat state constituency, one of the three state seats in the Bachok parliamentary constituency.
“He told me that he decided to stand in the election because the PAS leadership has strayed from the real teachings of Islam,” Nik pointed out. “Although I had initially expected him to lose his deposit but after two days on the ground, surprisingly he has a considerable number of followers.”
The ground in Kelantan may be shifting. “We do not know the number of these disgruntled PAS members but these are the undercurrents that will only be felt after the election results are out tonight (Aug 12).”
Laid-back lifestyle
Many have cited the failure of the Kelantan state government to resolve local issues, most notably clean water supply. Some Kelantanese like Nik and those who had some western education prefer to live in the Klang Valley due to better employment opportunities in the West Coast.
“We would rather have our children educated in the West Coast; more English-based and the schools have more extracurricular activities,” justified Nik.
Nik’s own three sons are graduates from the UK and Australia. But like Zulkarnain, the former civil servant and now a pious Muslim feels that the Islamic bias in Kelantan which is not necessarily based on the correct Islamic teachings is something that has become unpalatable.
“Lifestyle of Kelantanese in Kelantan is another deterrence for us because they are not punctual in their meetings and appointments. People there do things at their own pace, are slow and like to procrastinate,” he said, adding that facilities for social and educational objectives are found mainly in the West Coast.
Another observer, Mohammad Ahmad Din who once worked in Kelantan, has a different view about politics in the East Coast state. “When I was working there, most folks there were happy with their government,” he recalled.
“This included even the Chinese folks, too. I was thinking they were the oppressed lot under PAS when the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat was the menteri besar but I didn’t see that happened.”
However, he admitted that Kelantan today can be quite different. “Things could have changed since then,” he suggested.
A survey conducted by Merdeka Centre shows that Malay voters in Kelantan are dissatisfied with their state government’s performance. Only 51% of the Malays surveyed were satisfied.
Kelantanese will be casting their ballots today to pick their state assembly representatives in 45 state seats. – Aug 12, 2023
