Malaysia GE2022: PH’s ‘giant killer’ looks for historic win on Umno chief’s home turf

BAGAN DATUK, Perak - Opposition Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat in Perak not only wants to take the fight to Umno chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – who is the incumbent there – but also believes he has a shot at winning.

That would result in an unprecedented upset in Malaysia’s ongoing 15th General Election campaign.

Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, 48, has earned a reputation for being a “giant killer” after defeating a high-profile Umno stalwart, Tun Ali Rustam, in both of his past electoral battles.

But defeating a sitting Umno president in a constituency that has been held by the incumbent for close to three decades is a tall ask, not least because Mr Shamsul is not a local in these parts.

Nevertheless, declining electoral support for Zahid in the past two elections – coupled with uncertainty caused by nearly 11,000 new voters in a semi-rural constituency who might not have entrenched loyalties to Zahid – has given Mr Shamsul cause for some optimism.

PH has fielded Mr Shamsul, a former deputy minister who hails from Melaka, to take the fight to Zahid.

It hopes to capitalise on perceived public anger against Zahid over the multiple graft charges he is facing, and for being the main orchestrator in pushing for a general election to be held in 2022 – close to feared monsoon floods – despite polls not being due until the second half of 2023.

Mr Shamsul is the highest-profile electoral opponent Zahid has faced since first winning the constituency in 1995.

“I think I am not exaggerating in saying Zahid must be worried by now,” Mr Shamsul told The Straits Times, in a reference to early sentiments he had gathered on the ground while campaigning in Bagan Datuk.

Bagan Datuk is located in the south-west of Perak, a coastal constituency that largely still relies on fishing and plantations as its major livelihood.

A semi-rural constituency with more than 58,000 voters, it fits the profile of a seat traditionally considered as favouring the ruling Umno and the coalition it leads, Barisan Nasional.

This is further strengthened by the fact that Zahid is a local candidate – he was born and raised here in a middle-class family – and still maintains his family home in a village here.

He has spent recent days attending weddings and funerals and hosting constituents at his family house.

Zahid has said that the “suffering” of the people for the past three years under both PH and Perikatan Nasional will end only if BN gets a resounding win.

He was alluding to development projects in Bagan Datuk that were purportedly cancelled in 2018, when PH defeated BN in the last general election, and were revived only when BN returned to power in 2021.

“We need 112 seats. Let Bagan Datuk be one of them, and deliver both state seats as well,” he told his supporters on Nomination Day on Nov 5, referring to the number of seats required for a simple majority in Parliament.

Perak will also be simultaneously holding state elections, where 59 seats in the state assembly are up for grabs.

However, Zahid has seen his vote share dwindle over the past decade.

After winning 80 per cent of the total votes cast in the 2004 General Election, his vote share dropped to 55 per cent, 53 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively, in the past three elections.

Enter Mr Shamsul, a former vice-president of PH leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, who twice defeated Melaka governor Ali Rustam – at the 2013 and 2018 elections.

Mr Shamul’s victories essentially blocked Tun Ali’s attempted ascent to federal politics after a 14-year tenure as Melaka’s chief minister. However, Mr Shamsul said he wished he did not have the “burden” of being known as a giant killer, and did not want to shift base three states away just to make up the numbers.

“When (opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim and I had a discussion about Bagan Datuk – you know Zahid is quite friendly to Anwar, it is not easy for me to campaign here – I told him: If you want to send me there, I want to win, what more now,” Mr Shamsul said.

Mr Shamsul is not only appealing to the PH support base here, but also targeting Umno members who might be disgruntled with Zahid’s leadership, especially after the latter controversially dropped several high-profile Umno leaders as candidates for the election, ostensibly due to their close association with caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Pundits have said that Zahid and Datuk Seri Ismail are locked in a power struggle to control Umno, which could yet change the party’s prime minister candidate, should it win.

However, Mr Shamsul’s biggest hurdle would be his background. He is not a local, and the presence of an independent candidate and another candidate from former premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) could chip away at the opposition’s vote share.

But he has ways to overcome both hurdles. He is using his Melaka background to his advantage – relating it to the fact that it was a Melaka prince who travelled to Perak and became its first ruler in the 1520s, showing close historical ties between both states.

He is also hopeful PN candidate Muhammad Faiz Na’aman would chip away at Zahid’s vote share instead – which largely comes from the constituency’s Malay electorate – allowing him to rely on PH’s support base and win over at least 60 per cent of the new voters in the constituency.

An unprecedented win in Bagan Datuk will be called the “Malaysia move”, Mr Shamsul said. “I take it as my national service to defeat someone who has caused trouble for this country.”