Tiny Perlis expected to deliver big

Barisan hopes to come out victorious in state and capture all seats like in GE13

KANGAR: It is the smallest state in the country with only three parliamentary seats, but Perlis used to produce political giants who were household names.

The state also delivered a 100% victory in the last general election for Barisan Nasional.

Being the only state where Barisan managed to win all the parliamentary seats makes Perlis special.

At one point during Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration, Perlis was represented by two federal ministers, namely Tan Sri Azmi Khalid (the MP for Padang Besar) and Tan Sri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (Kangar) who was also the Umno secretary-general.

The state was then led by Tan Sri Dr Hamid Pawanteh as Mentri Besar and state Barisan chief. And Hamid was not even a native of Perlis.

He was born in Penang, which shows a unique quality of the people of Perlis who can be very flexible when it comes to their leadership.

Perlis is also special because at one point in time, all its three Umno division chiefs in Kangar, Arau and Padang Besar were leaders who held very high positions in either the state or federal administration.

This is perhaps something that will not be repeated again for a long time.

Hamid was the Mentri Besar from 1986 up to 1995. After that era, Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim emerged. A leader from Arau, Shahidan, now 66, was appointed Mentri Besar in 1995 when he was just 44 – making him one of the youngest ever to hold that position.

He continued to serve as Mentri Besar for the next 13 years until March 2008 when he was removed after the general election to pave the way for an almost unknown figure, Md Isa Sabu, to take over.

There was speculation at the time that the Istana of Perlis wanted someone else to lead the state – someone less controversial.

Shahidan though will be remembered as a leader with a colourful character and a gung-ho type of leadership, known for his willingness to challenge and take on anyone to a debate, even his own peers in Umno.

When he was Mentri Besar, he even invited the then Perlis PAS commissioner, Hashim Jasin, to go on a radio talk show almost every week in order to debate with him on a range of topics.

Party sources said that Umno meetings under Shahidan’s leadership as state party chief – a position he holds until now – is always lively with arguments and debates. This is just how Shahidan is.

There is now talk that Shahidan, who is currently a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, might make a comeback to the state in the general election.

From coffee shops to surau all over Perlis, many people are asking the same question: “Is it true that....?”

Furthermore, if you are an out- sider, people might want to know more from you on the pretext that you know better because you are from Kuala Lumpur.

They will say that they think Datuk Seri Azlan Man is a decent guy and has done enough to stay for another term at the state to oversee all the ground work being laid down to change Perlis from an agriculture-based state to a service provider state in the next five years.

As state liaison chief for Umno and Barisan, Shahidan is the one who will submit the list of candidates to the Prime Minister, so he has the upper hand.

However, the matter also depends on the party leadership, and not to forget the Istana.

Azlan, when asked by The Star about the speculation, said that as Mentri Besar he has done whatever was needed to bring Perlis to the next level.

“I have laid down the right foundation, the plan to create jobs for the people of Perlis with huge foreign investments in the next five years.

“The rest is up to the leadership. I will go where ever I am asked to go. No questions asked,” he said.

On that score, Azlan is leaving the final decision to the Prime Minister.

But to him, the most challenging part in his five-year stint as the Mentri Besar was to change the mindset of the people.

“I want them to have the rod, so to speak, so that they can catch fish instead of just giving them the fish. I can only give people direction and some small token assistance in whatever capacity that I can offer, but the rest will still depend on the rakyat to make the changes,” said Azlan.

There is also talk that there will be new faces in the general election.

“I suspect we can see at least six new faces in the general election while at least two old faces will make a comeback.

“One of them I have been made to understand is a former exco member,” said an Umno veteran and observer.

In the last general election, with only 15 state assembly seats (five in each parliamentary seat), Barisan contested in all and won 13, of which one was won by MCA.

PAS won one seat (Sanglang) and PKR won (Indera Kayangan) another.

There is no MIC seat available in Perlis.

Five years ago, PAS contested in eight state seats while PKR contested in six, and DAP in one.

Five independent candidates also contested but all lost their deposits.

This time around, PAS has vowed that it will go for all 15 seats as it does not need to negotiate with Pakatan Harapan on the seat allocation anymore.

PKR will again contest in six and DAP will again in just one seat.

The PAS splinter party Amanah will meanwhile field candidates in the eight seats which PAS used to contest in.

Throughout the years, it was PAS that gave Barisan the toughest fights.

Of the eight seats PAS contested, four were lost with narrow margins of below 1,000 votes.

It lost Kayang by 664 votes, Guar Sanji (927), Beseri (540) and Simpang Empat (85).

Similarly, PAS won its sole state seat of Sanglang with an equally narrow majority of 121 votes.

Things will be different this time around as PAS will be up against Pakatan.

Last Friday, a Pakatan ceramah led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Mohamad Sabu in Utan Aji drew a big crowd.

Latecomers had to walk quite a distance to get to the venue due to large turnout which meant all the available places to park nearby had been taken up.

Two days later Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi met the Barisan election machinery workers to kickstart the campaign in the state.

Azlan is confident that the number of votes Umno will get is not going to change much.

“People will go to ceramah to get entertained by the speaker, especially when someone like Dr M is here, but that doesn’t mean they will cast their votes accordingly,” said Datuk Azam Rashid, the Kangar Umno division deputy chief.

In the end, he said people will vote for progress and prosperity and will put the state in the hands of a party that can deliver with a proven track record and experience.

On the federal level, there is talk that former Perlis PAS commissioner Hashim Jasin, who is now the party’s Mursyidul Am (spiritual adviser), will contest in the Arau parliamentary seat.

In 2013, PAS fielded Datuk Dr Haron Din to contest the seat.

Haron lost to Shahidan by 1,371 votes.

Current Perlis PAS commissioner Mohd Shukri Ramli will defend his Sanglang seat.

Meanwhile, PKR, Amanah and DAP will announce their candidates sometime next week.