Are the gloves about to come off for Lim Kit Siang and Datuk Ghani Othman as they do battle in the most watched fight in the country?

EVERYONE has been talking about how gentlemanly and cordial the contest between DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Ghani Othman in Gelang Patah has been.

The two adversaries even held hands as they made their way up to the stage on Nomination Day when their names were confirmed as candidates for the most highly charged contest in the country.

At 72, Kit Siang is only six years older than Ghani. They are basically of the same generation except that their backgrounds could not have been more different. But they did appear to be quite comfortable in each others’ company. Ghani even showed Kit Siang a traditional Chinese procedure to improve blood circulation and joint movements.

Kit Siang is not the sort to hold back punches as those who have attended his ceramah would know but he has been quite circumspect when mentioning Ghani.

He has stuck to his staple ceramah pitch of change, democracy and fighting corruption while stressing that the Gelang Patah contest decides the future of Malaysia.

Ghani has resisted being drawn into portraying the contest as a bid to “bury Kit Siang.”

He has said he wants to defend the close ties that the different races have in Johor and is confident Johoreans want to continue with the developmental success taking place in the state.

The closest that he went into specifics was that he wanted to defend Johor against “those from Kelantan or even Ipoh Timur”. He was referring to Kit Siang who is the incumbent Ipoh Timur MP and PAS’ Salahuddin Ayub who had contested in Kelantan before making the move to Johor.

But are the gloves about to come off? On Monday, Kit Siang reportedly said Ghani was a “racist.”

It was apparently in response to Ghani saying that a DAP win in Gelang Patah would be equivalent to supporting Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang as Prime Minister.

Many hope the gentlemanly campaign will hold but the stakes are simply too great. Barisan Nasional in Johor is defending its fortress whereas DAP is making an ambitious bid for the state.

The Chinese have been flocking to DAP ceramah in huge numbers. Last Saturday, their prime ceramah at the Sutera Mall car park drew a crowd that was reminiscent of the 2008 election rallies in Penang. It was also a generous crowd because the collection that night was more than RM90,000.

The Chinese vote looks good on paper and everywhere Kit Siang goes, people rush to shake his hand and have their photo taken with him. Kit Siang has said that he needs 90% of the Chinese vote to win Gelang Patah. That is a big number which might be plausible in Penang or the Klang Valley but, as they say, this is Johor.

But the Malay ground has been decidedly cold towards Kit Siang and the DAP machinery is at a loss about how to get the Malay vote. Some think that the huge Chinese gatherings may even have shrunk the Malay support for DAP.

Even the Indian response is not like what DAP is used to in other states, prompting the party to issue the “Gelang Patah Declaration” for the Indians earlier this month. DAP’s biggest problem is that Ghani is no ordinary candidate. He has an impressive report card after four terms as the Mentri Besar and is leaving the office after putting in place the most impressive regional project in the country. More importantly, he is known as a clean, intelligent and moderate Malay politician who engages all races.

Second, Kit Siang, despite having roots in Batu Pahat, had spent his entire adult life contesting in one seat after another in other states. Two other big names Liew Chin Tong and Teo Nie Ching brought down to back up Kit Siang are only now getting acquainted with voters in their respective areas of Kluang and Kulai, whereas their Barisan opponents have been there the last five years.

Reporters covering them said that they are unfamiliar with local issues and do not even know their way around the constituency. They are riding on promises of change.

Moreover, Liew’s track record in Penang as an MP was hardly impressive, whereas Teo is seen as running away from her Serdang seat in Selangor to avoid facing a popular comeback by Datuk Yap Pian Hon.

Their campaign, said one analyst, is riding on too many national issues and not enough local or state-level issues. Some Johoreans call them “rolling politicians” because they roll from one seat to another.

But Ghani, said the analyst, cannot rest on his laurels.

“He still needs to work the ground. As the MB, people came to him but now he has to do the Najib thing – reach out, look people in the eye and shake as many hands as he can. The personal touch is important in the next 10 days or so,” said the analyst.

Ghani has finally shed his “media-shy” image and has stopped running from reporters. Last week, the press covered his visit to incumbent Gelang Patah MP Tan Ah Eng who is battling cancer. He spent 45 minutes there and an emotional Tan held on tightly to his hand when she wished him good luck.

Kit Siang had arrived in Gelang Patah expecting to take on MCA’s Jason Teoh. A DAP-MCA face-off would have been like water over a duck’s back for the DAP veteran but taking on Ghani is something else altogether.

Instead of spearheading the fight to capture Johor, he is now fighting for his own survival and secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has been coming down to help save his father. Kit Siang has had to change his strategy, he has been tied down and cannot roam the country to campaign. On Monday, he finally struck a compromise with the Malacca DAP team to get Sim Tong Him to withdraw as an independent candidate against the official DAP candidate Lai Keun Ban. As Lai and Sim shook hands, Kit Siang was seen checking the time on his wristwatch, as though anxious to get back on the campaign trail.

Every waking hour is precious in his battle to survive in Gelang Patah.

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

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