The way to a man’s heart – and vote – is through the stomach and the Chinese who are seen as the kingmaker in Kota Baru are being feted by both sides.

PAS politician Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan is always well-groomed and his hair looks like a salon job but he is quick to stress that he only goes to a male barber in Kota Baru.

Hair styling salons are a sensitive subject for him after the state authorities tried to clampdown on unisex hair salons in Kota Baru last year.

But Takiyuddin’s PR is first class. During an eight-course dinner that his party sponsored for Chinese NGOs in Kota Baru, he made a detour to the press table to shake hands with reporters before heading for the stage to speak.

Several of the VIP guests arrived late and each time they came through the door, he would leap from his seat and rush down the aisle to greet them.

The tall, dark and handsome politician is moving from his Bunut Payung state seat to the parliamentary seat of Kota Baru.

Some people say he is moving on to bigger things but others say he is being “kicked upstairs” given that the state seats are where the power lies.

The Chinese dinner was hosted at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce building in the heart of Kelantan’s version of Chinatown.

Takiyuddin is assiduously courting the Chinese vote because they will be the kingmaker in this urban seat.

They make up 18% of Kota Baru voters and they have their own special interests in this overwhelmingly Malay state.

This is the time when everyone is a friend and during his speech, he called one Chinese figure at the main table “my old friend” while another as the “icon of Kota Baru”. Even his clumsy attempt to speak Mandarin went down well with all.

Just around the corner, Taki­yuddin’s rival Datuk Fatmi Salleh is smiling down from a brightly illuminated billboard mounted above a shoplot.

Bantu saya untuk bantu rakyat (Help me to help the people) – that is his campaign slogan for Kota Baru.

Fatmi is making his second bid for the Kota Baru seat and talk is that the Chinese are finally ready to give him their support.

The night before Takiyuddin’s dinner, Fatmi had thrown a similar dinner for Chinese groups.

The way to man’s heart – and vote – is through the stomach and there will be more of such dinners in the next couple of weeks.

Fatmi, who is Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s political secretary, lost badly in 2008. But he has thrown himself into community services in Kota Baru over the last three years.

Everybody knows him and he has even set up a Yayasan OKB – OKB stands for Orang Kota Baru.

The foundation, among other things, provides free tuition for schoolchildren.

He wants to win the hearts of parents by taking care of their children’s educational needs.

Yayasan OKB’s arm in the Klang Valley is also a go-to body for Kelantanese working outside the state who could be a deciding factor in many seats in the state.

Jobs, business opportunities and affordable housing are OKBs’ top priorities.

“Many Chinese tell me they have to rent houses because they cannot afford to buy. I want to prosper the town, provide affordable homes and upgrade the standard of life for all OKBs,” said Fatmi.

Kota Baru is a one of those swing seats because its voters are urban, well-informed and demand a lot from their elected representatives.

They voted for Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Zaid Ibrahim in 2004 but swung to PAS’ Datuk Wan Rahim Wan Abdullah in 2008.

Fatmi thinks the pendulum is ready to swing back to Barisan again. The Chinese mood in Kelantan is not like that in other urban centres.

They are only about 5% of the state population and they understand the need to stand-up for their cultural beliefs while living alongside the majority Malay.

They are not angry about everything under the sun and they can see the good and bad in both political camps. They are pragmatic and know how to seek goodwill from both sides.

For instance, the owner of a Thai restaurant in town is an MCA supporter while his partner supports PAS.

The Thai outlet is halal but the pair’s Chinese restaurant serves bah kut teh and seafood and their next project is a modern food court.

Takiyuddin’s traction among the Chinese is iffy at best. They have not forgotten his role in the hair salon fiasco.

He is relying on two persons to reel in the Chinese vote.

One is Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who enjoys the respect of all races, and the other is Datuk Anuar Tan, the incumbent for Kota Lama, one of the three state seats in Kota Baru.

Anuar is rather aloof and does not have Takiyuddin’s PR skills.

When a reporter tried to take his photo, he looked as though the reporter was aiming a weapon at him.

The local Chinese press tread carefully around him because they say he is very thin-skinned for a profession that requires a thick face.

But the Chinese businessmen like him. He has helped sort out many of their problems and is confident of holding on to his seat against Barisan’s Tan Ken Ten.

The gossip in Chinatown is that the Chinese will hand the Kota Baru parliamentary seat to Fatmi and the Kota Lama state seat to Anuar.

This is about Chinese pragmatism coming into play.

They think that Nik Aziz’s health and age will not allow him to go a full term.

The OKBs are not sure what the post-Nik Aziz Kelantan will be like and they want to keep their options open, with one foot in each door.

For more election stories, please visit The Star’s GE13 site

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