Flag war: Kuala Terengganu sees all parties’ flags in one area.
KUALA TERENGGANU: The two biggest rivals in the battle for Terengganu are neck and neck in terms of voter support after more than a week of campaigning, according to a straw poll of locals.
About 25 voters – from Besut in the north to Kuala Terengganu in the centre and Kemaman in the south – were asked whether they were satisfied with the PAS state government, which has ruled for the past five years.
They were also asked whether they wanted to maintain the state’s ruling party, which is now part of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, or switch to one dominated by Barisan Nasional.
A dozen said they were satisfied with the state government, 11 were not, and two were undecided.
On maintaining the state administration, respondents were equally split, with 10 choosing either Perikatan or Barisan and five others undecided.
However, a poll of 25 voters is hardly authoritative, and the final outcome in this oil-rich state is more likely to be determined by returning outstation voters.
About 70,000 of Terengganu’s roughly 930,800 voters are working outside the state, according to Terengganu PAS deputy commissioner III Datuk Dr Alias Razak.
The outstation voters are among three key factors that Terengganu-based political scientist Dr Yusri Ibrahim said would determine who wins the state on Aug 12.
Another factor is whether first-time voters in the 15th General Election (GE15) switch their support, said Yusri from the polling outfit Ilham Centre.
“The third factor is whether those who voted for Barisan in GE15 will do so again, switch to Perikatan or not come out to vote.”
An ehailing driver in the Seberang Takir seat, a suburb near the state capital, told The Star that he was an Umno supporter but had yet to decide whether he would vote.
“There is an internal issue in the party that needs to be solved first,” said the 39-year-old, who was nevertheless dissatisfied with the state government.
Barisan, the state opposition in Terengganu, is now allied with the Pakatan Harapan coalition, despite a pledge by its leadership before GE15 to never work with them.
Meanwhile, those who supported the PAS government, such as Aziz Bakar, a Ladang voter, said they appreciated how the Islamist party gave out village grants and aid fairly and transparently.
“My neighbourhood used to experience flash floods. For a long time, no one did anything about it.
“In the past five years, the state government has fixed the drainage,” said the Jalan Terkurur resident.
“They also increased allocations for the number of surau,” said the 40-year-old imam.
Nur Atiqah, 23, of Tepuh in Kuala Nerus, also praised her state assemblyman, Hishamuddin Abdul Karim of PAS, for being fair towards all regardless of political affiliation.
In response to the straw poll, Terengganu PAS deputy commissioner III Datuk Dr Alias Razak said the party’s own surveys showed that it was ahead of Barisan.
“We are confident of retaining the state because we don’t have any big issue. We don’t have any scandal and we fulfilled the promises we made,” said the Kuala Nerus MP.
Terengganu Umno deputy chief Datuk Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku said sentiments towards Barisan had been encouraging.
However, he admitted that Barisan would have to work a lot harder in the final days of campaigning if it hopes to achieve its target of winning at least 17 of the 33 state seats.
