BESUT: At every Pas ceramah in Kuala Besut at the moment, you will definitely hear the phrase enam belas-enam belas (sixteen-sixteen) being mentioned.
No matter the speaker, there is bound to be an analogy of a football game. They will say that an equal number of players on each side would result in a worthy game between two rivals.
The t-shirt sellers caught on real quick and are selling Pas t-shirts cum jerseys with the number 16 in conjunction with the Kuala Besut by-election, which can decide the future of the state.
At the moment, Barisan Nasional holds 16 seats while Pakatan Rakyat has 15 seats. A Pas wins will give Pakatan 16 seats or a possible “hung state assembly,” a unique situation in Malaysia.
Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said said the 16:16 campaign did not mean anything and should not arise as the speaker held an extra vote.
However the opposition has said that the speaker’s vote will not count as he was not elected by the rakyat, but rather a Barisan appointee.
The Kuala Besut by-election on July 24 will be a straight fight between PAS candidate Azlan Yusof and Barisan Nasional candidate Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Rahman.
It was called following the death of former assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar on June 26.
Kuala Besut is more than just a by-election. The locals, regardless of their political affiliation are talking about the “New Terengganu” Pas has been campaigning
for.
Pulau Perhentian resident Nik Kamal, 47, believes there might be instability in the state if there are equal numbers of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan members.
He thinks that both parties will want absolute power if they are equal in the assembly and predicts a scenario where there are two penghulu (village chief) in one
village– one each to represent each party.
“There are bound to be problems. The people will suffer when everyone wants power,” he said adding that he will vote for Barisan.
Taxi driver Azhar Ali believes that the episode would make for a good learning lesson for the Election Commission (EC) as they would have to make sure that
there are odd numbers of seats in the future.
This could be for any state assembly or even at the parliament level, where there are 222 seats.
The Johor parliament for example has 56 state seats.
The Barisan supporter however doesn’t think there will be any trouble on the streets if there are equal numbers of representatives.
“Terengganu has been under the opposition before and there wasn’t any trouble,” he said.
He believes that the Sultan might advise both parties for a state wide re-election.
A fish seller who only wanted to be known as Mizi said both the government and opposition could definitely not work with one another and said that a re-election
would be the only option.
“There is trouble when they put up flags. What more in the assembly,” he quipped.
Vegetable seller Norshahidah Ghazali, 28, echoed Mizi’s opinion and said in any event of a re-election, the people would really choose carefully.
“I don’t think they can work together, no matter what the politicians say,” she said.
“If one side gives a suggestion, the other one is going to reject it. I think that’s quite normal,” she added.
PAS supporter Jusoh Ismail, 62, doesn’t think there should be a problem if PAS wins the Kuala Besut seats. He thinks PAS will get an opportunity to win the state
in a re-election.
Just like the others, he doesn’t think both sides can work with one another because of their ideological differences.
“That’s quite normal isn’t it? It’s politics,” he said.
