The Chinese in Johor have been stirred and shaken by the arrival of Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah but the tsunami he brought had also hit his own party and he is about to face the biggest fight of his political career.

TANGKAK in Johor is the sort of country town that goes to sleep early. But election fever is in the air and on Monday night, the local folk had cramped into the residential compound of one of the wealthiest men in Tangkak.

Yusof A. Samad or Cikgu Yusof, as he is known in these parts, had opened his palatial home for Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim to speak from that night.

The Yusof family owns a successful construction business and one of the sons had built an equally lavish house next to the family home. Both houses stand like twin palaces amid the surrounding kampung homes in this neat little town that is also known as “Syurga Kain” because of its textile shops.

But friends of the family stressed that these people were not government cronies and that they got contracts because of their own hard work. One of Cikgu Yusof’s daughters is married to a PAS assemblyman in Kelantan and the family is obviously banking on Anwar in a big way.

A large banner showing Anwar against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya hung over the ornate doorway of the main house which was ablaze with lights.

There must have been several thousand people there that night, many of them coming from nearby Malacca and also Johor Baru, all eager to witness Anwar unveil the PKR candidates for Johor.

They also knew Anwar would be making an announcement about Datuk Chua Jui Meng who had finally reappeared after going missing in the wake of PKR surrendering the Gelang Patah seat to Lim Kit Siang.

Crowd pullers: Election fever is in the air and political superstars have drawn record crowds in Johor. Clockwise from bottom left: Dr Mahathir mobbed by admirers in Muar; he attracts huge crowds wherever he speaks in Johor; massive Chinese crowds flock to DAP ceramah; but Kit Siang struggles with the Malay vote.

The Johor PKR chief looked rather pale, as though he had not seen the sun for several weeks, but he gave a highly-charged speech, punching the air several times with his fist. Chua who had, just a few days ago, said he did not have a house to go to, had found a house.

DAP had finally given up the Segamat seat in exchange for Gelang Patah. Or at least, that was what everyone thought except it was not what it appeared to be.

The decision to give up Segamat was made by the national DAP leadership against the wishes of the state DAP leaders. The result is that the Johor party leaders are hopping mad. They have hit out at the national leaders for not respecting their opinion and slammed what has happened as an “act of betrayal and treachery”.

The state candidates selection committee headed by the party’s Johor chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau has also resigned in protest.

Dr Boo and his supporters not only declared war on Chua and PKR, they are also at war with the national leadership. Dr Boo is so furious that he has vowed not to defend his Johor chairman post later this year.

It looks like the house that Chua got is sitting on shaky foundation. He is not going to get any help from DAP in Segamat and he will be lucky if they do not sabotage his campaign.

Ghani: Waiting for greenlight from Najib.

It must be terribly embarrassing for Kit Siang to have landed in the middle of such a bizarre situation. The party looks like it is about to implode in Johor.

“It has not been a smooth homecoming for him. Kit Siang’s strategy was to cause a tsunami in Johor but the waves have hit his own people,” said Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Samad.

The infighting for seats in Pakatan Rakyat has put their Barisan Nasional counterparts to shame.

Kit Siang has deftly sidestepped the turmoil around him. In interviews with the Chinese media, he has coolly predicted that Pakatan will win 19 of the 26 parliamentary seats in Johor and 30 of the 56 state seats. His prediction has been the talking point in coffeeshops although no one could quite see how the coalition was going to achieve those numbers.

He said Negri Sembilan and Perak will fall and Pakatan will win Putrajaya with a narrow majority. Guang Ming Daily splashed his interview over its centre pages under the heading, “Creating a Miracle in Johor”. It was a good heading because it would need a miracle for Johor to fall.

Kit Siang has been encouraged by the huge Chinese crowds at DAP ceramah. They are evidently not there out of curiosity as some imagine. They cheer, they clap and they give generously when the collection box goes around. And they stay on till the end if Kit Siang is featured as the last speaker.

But DAP is struggling with the Malay vote and the obstacle is no other than Kit Siang himself. He is a polarising figure for the Malays, given his history and baggage.

Native son

There is no doubt that Kit Siang will triumph if Barisan puts MCA’s Jason Teoh in Gelang Patah although Teoh has been active in the area for close to a decade. He is an anak jati or native son, born and bred in a Chinese village known as Kampung Gelang Patah.

He owns several factories that provide jobs for the locals and has pumped in a lot of money for programmes. His face is plastered on taxis with the slogan, “Stability leads to Prosperity”. Moreover, he is tall and handsome, with the sort of looks associated with leading men in Hong Kong movies.

He has been in limbo ever since news broke that the Prime Minister wants Mentri Besar Datuk Ghani Othman to take on Kit Siang.

“Who will win depends on the rakyat. I am still going around, working hard,” said Teoh.

Muhammad Yazed: We feel like we are in a war.

Ghani is said to be willing and ready but the media-shy politician has been avoiding reporters. He is waiting for the greenlight from the Prime Minister whereas the media is pressing him for a confirmation.

His behaviour when meeting the press has been more like that of a shy bridegroom than a man preparing to take on the most formidable Chinese politician in the country.

He played host to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Muar last week and while the latter stopped to chat with the press, Ghani was doing his utmost to avoid the reporters and virtually leapt into the car with Dr Mahathir before the car sped off.

Dr Mahathir has made no bones that he is all for Ghani taking on Kit Siang.

“Anything to defeat Kit Siang. It’s about time he retires,” he said with a mischievous smile.

The political animal in him senses the golden opportunity to beat Kit Siang at his own game. Kit Siang’s nomadic politics has served him well in the past but Johor could be his Waterloo.

Umno sources in Johor said that Dr Mahathir had even suggested that Ghani should go ahead to announce the contest but Ghani had said that he did not wish to pre-empt the Prime Minister.

It is a high risk game to pitch the top Umno leader in the state against the DAP giant but as they say, no risk, no gain and big risk, big gain. If Ghani wins, he will go down in history as a big hero. If he loses, well, he went down fighting.

As for Kit Siang, he has been down this road before and few really believe he will retire from politics if he loses. He will just live to fight another day in another seat and another state.

“The DAP is trying to kill off MCA by spreading hatred against Umno. They say this is a do-or-die battle, it is like we are in a war. But the MB has a good relationship with the Chinese and we’re confident the Malays will be solidly for him. We have enjoyed good relations between the races. The Chinese in my kampung can even speak Bahasa Jawa,” said Muar Umno treasurer Muhammad Yazed Muhain.

Teoh: Born and bred in Gelang Patah.

Meanwhile, Anwar has been going around Johor with his biggest coup – retired general Tan Sri Md Hashim Hussein. He has managed to woo several top ex-servicemen to stand on the PKR ticket in Johor and elsewhere and he has paraded them around like war trophies.

Hashim was in Tangkak with Anwar. But unlike Anwar who is such a natural stage performer, Hashim was rather stiff and formal. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking out at the crowd as though he was surveying the troops.

Hashim will be contesting in Johor Baru. The local media have called it the “battle of the Tan Sris” because he is pitched again Tan Sri Shahrir Samad.

Shahrir has taken on many people but never a four-star general. But Shahrir is one of those rare and truly Malaysian politicians. He has gravitas and his social ease gives him access to any group or community.

Along the road where The Star office is located in Johor Baru, Chinese New Year banners of him are still strung up at the chiku-teh shop and an outlet selling economy rice.

He was expecting to take on woman lawyer Tan Poh Lai but he said: “I prefer to face the General. It’s easier to take on a man because when a woman hits you below the belt, you can’t hit back.”

Besides, as some have pointed out, a Yang Berhormat also has to be a servant of the people and they do not quite see the general fitting into such a role.

But Shahrir knows that the battle for Johor will be centred squarely in Gelang Patah and it will be largely a battle for the Chinese vote. If Kit Siang wins, it will be mainly on the back of Chinese sentiment.

“The Chinese voters have to make the choice. Do they choose the confrontational Chinese style of DAP or do they want BN’s way of solving issues in Johor? If they say they don’t care, then it is like crossing the Rubicon. The Chinese will have to think beyond themselves because the repercussions are going to be big. It will forever change the political culture of Johor that we take pride in,” said Shahrir.

The Chinese in Johor have been stirred and shaken like a cocktail but the show is just about to begin.

> Joceline Tan can be reached at joceline@thestar.com.my

• Cyclone takes the heat for hot weather
• AirAsia X offers free tickets to any destination for initial public offering to retail investors
• If you want to go far work early and hard on personal branding
• Doc held for posing as cop to extort businessman
• Allianz aims for RM150mil in new premiums
• Couple upset over baby’s death
• Malaysia's I-Bhd and Thailand's CPN in mall joint venture with GDV of RM580mil
• From tomorrow, city cabbies can pick up passengers from KLIA
• Najib wants Chinese in Cabinet
• Todd was under treatment for depression, public inquiry told